Can we afford to build two new schools?

Naturally, people want to know where the money is coming from to build the new Morey and Butler elementary schools. The current estimated cost for the two new buildings is $32.8 million. Apparently, this estimate is good for about 6 months, but will increase by $500,000 for every six months that the projects are delayed.

The schools were approved to be built at a 90% reimbursement rate; however, the amount to be reimbursed was frozen by the legislature. Any increase in cost over the original estimate of $26 million has to be funded by the city. In other words, Lowell will only pay 10% of the original estimate (10% of 26,098,655=$2, 609,866) plus the increase in the estimate ($32,741.330 - $26,098,655 = $6,642,675) . Thus, the total cost to the city for the two schools is estimated at $9,252,541. This is over $6 million more than we had originally hoped to pay, but we are still getting a significant reimbursement from the state. There will be no more projects built at the 90% reimbursement rate; in the future the rate will likely be less than 70%.

Given these numbers, the question to ask is can we afford NOT to build the new schools?