According to Guilford County Schools, construction costs have increased by 50 percent since the $300 million in 2020 school bond projects were planned.
Guilford County Schools has said that it will cost an estimated $450 million to build the $300 million in projects that were planned.
Assuming that the school officials are being honest and accurate in the estimated 2022 construction costs, it doesn’t look good for the projects that the City of Greensboro is planning to build with its $135 million in bonds on the ballot for the July 26 election.
One of those projects, the combination of the Vance Chavis Library and the Windsor Recreation Center – which are now on opposite sides of Gate City Boulevard – was estimated to cost $70 million. The City Council said that it planned to spend $50 million of the $70 million in parks and recreation bond money on this project. Where the city was going to get the additional $20 million was not spelled out.
But Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston had said that the county would put in some money and that they also hoped to get some money from local businesses and foundations.
So, going in, the city has a $20 million deficit on a $70 million project. But if the schools are correct and construction costs have increased by 50 percent, the Vance Chavis-Windsor facility would cost $105 million not $70 million.
That would mean that if the City Council decided to use the entire $70 million in bonds for the Vance Chavis-Windsor facility, which it has every right to do, it would still come up $35 million short. Even with $70 million in bonds, $10 million from Guilford County and $10 million from private sources, the city would still be $15 million short.
With Guilford County looking at a $150 million deficit in funding for schools, even Alston might not be able to come up with the $10 million for a city project. The county has no obligation to pay anything for a city recreation center and branch library.
If the city only uses $50 million in bond money for the recreation center and branch library, the city may be starting out with less than half the money to fund the project.
It’s time for a change. Kick them all out, and start fresh.
Anyone in their right mind knows construction prices are out of sight and have been steadfastly rising for years. Add the supply chain issues, gas and diesal price increases, labor shortages, competition for materials, etc and this isn’t going to end anytime soon. Its all over the national news and you cant miss it so I can only assume our leaders are not doing their due diligence or are being less than forthright when they don’t reconfirm and update their costs BEFORE asking us to fund those bond projects.
Hey, aren’t all the new residents adding to your tax base. Haven’t you contributed to the confiscation of the citizens wealth? No matter how much money you take, it is never enough.
Just make me King of Guilford County.
You voted for it…now what?
I thought that the balance of 20 million out of the 70 million from the Parks & Recreation money was supposed to go
toward a rain forest & ocean feature at the Science Center. Is that not true ?
It really doesn’t matter anymore because after the property tax statements came out this weekend I think the bonds are dead in the water
If you only knew the amount of money GCS spends on unnecessary things you would not have voted for the bonds. Now what? They will be back to ask for more.
A great example of waste by this group are these outside classrooms that were mandated (and not wanted) for ALL elementary schools. With all the issues with public education…THAT is what they spent their money on? Would love to see the Rhino Times run a story on our School Super’s going away gift of more wasted money.