Early plans for new D93 middle school over budget

Bonneville School District 93 is in the early stages of building its new middle school, but it is already estimating the cost to be over budget.

The new middle school will be located just east of Thunder Ridge High School. Crews are currently designing the building, determining how much space is needed, and estimating the cost of construction. The architect has delivered a plan that is about 133,000 sq. ft. The construction company, Headwaters, estimates that building a building that size would put them about $1.7 million over budget. However, the district says it will look at the plans closely and figure out a way to get it back down to the budget.

“We just can’t build a building that costs $1.7 million more than we have,” said John Pymm, director of facilities and operations for District 93. “So in the end when we’re done with this process we’ll have a plan and it’ll be on budget and we’ll get a, before we proceed, we’ll have a guaranteed maximum price.”

The district had a similar issue while building the new Thunder Ridge High School. It was about $5 million over budget, but they were able to work it down to be on budget.