The City Council will get an overview of the latest cost projections to build two new high schools and long terms impact on city finances at its regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 18.

In an exchange of texts on Tuesday, City Council President Steve McAllister said he planned to conduct a special council meeting to review the Ellana  Construction Consultants analysis of the estimated cost to build new Pilgrim and Toll Gate High Schools on existing school athletic  fields  and then demolishing the 50+year old buildings as sites for new fields.  The council commissioned the $85,000 Ellana report when questions were raised over whether the estimates provided by school architects Saccoccio & Associates, and confirmed by a peer review, would hold true in the face of material shortages and inflation. The Ellana projections came in roughly 5 percent higher, which the school administration and architect say make the schools buildable within the $350 million bond voters approved in November.

In a follow-up text, McAllister said the Sept. 18 scheduled meeting would be devoted to the new schools after voting on the consent calendar. He has also asked City Finance Director Peder Schaefer to prepare an updated fiscal note taking into consideration higher interest rates.

Although Ellana was prepared to give a presentation of its report, McAllister has asked for summary of their findings. The 32-page report is filled with data reflecting the quantities of materials to be used and the labor going into building the schools based on conceptual designs by Saccoccio & Associates.

McAllister asked Ellana “to provide an executive summary of their report which we will make public. The council will be voting on whether to issue the bonds or not. All questions on size of the school and what is and not going to be built should be answered by the school department.”  He texted that the superintendent has been advised so that “their people can be there to answer questions.”

In a conversation last week as crews were on double time to complete renovations to Warwick Neck School so that it opens on Sept. 5 (the works is virtually completed and the school will open on time) Mark Saccoccio, president of Saccoccio & Associates and Steve Gothberg, director of construction & capital projects, addressed the new high schools. Saccoccio pointed out that design and cost projections are linked to the budget. Throughout the design and then the construction they are projecting costs. Should projections exceed budgets for various stages of construction, options and what is termed “value engineering” come into play.

Saccoccio is confident the two schools can be built with the funding approved by voters.

Thanks to legislation spearheaded by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, state reimbursement of qualified school projects has been  boosted by 2.5 percent and districts were given an additional six months on either side of the 5-year period in which to start and complete construction. Because of the deadlines and the council’s reluctance to release bond funds without additional study, it was feared the city would run out to time to qualify for reimbursement. The reimbursement rate would be 55 percent.

Certain to be raised on Sept. 18 is whether what voters were told they would get are now  the schools  the city can afford to build. Another predictable issue to be raised is the impact of bond payments on future taxes and whether the city can afford the cost.