Construction runs 30 million over budget

Due to unforeseen expenses, state funding changes and construction management mistakes, SMMUSD facility projects funded by Measure BB are expected to go over the budget by 30 million dollars. No budgeted funding source has been identified to pay for approximately 15 million dollars of the shortfall.All of the district’s eight major projects went over-budget, with seven projects surpassing the allotted budget by at least one million dollars. During the March 5th school board meeting, district staff shared news about the budget short- fall and offered possibilities as to how the board will proceed.Bond Measure BB, passed in 2006, granted the district 268 million dollars for facility improvements and construction. Projects funded by Measure BB include the new Innovation Building at Samo as well as the construction of new class- rooms at the district’s middle schools. The quarter-billion dollars’ worth of funds was dispersed throughout nearly all of the district’s major facilities.The original budget for Measure BB included an extra 32 million dollars (10 percent of overall project), gathered from various sources, to account for unknowns in the construction process. According to Director of Facilities Improvement Stuart Sam, this is the typical reserve for a proj- ect of this size.Fifteen of the 32 million dollars were estimated to be raised through a state funded Redevelopment Agency. Re-development Agencies receive state fund- ing to invest in city infrastructure.In 2011, five years after the Measure BB budget was approved, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation that put an end to Redevelopment Agencies, citing their inefficiency and ability to be manipulated for commercial purposes. As a result, SMMUSD lost 15 million dol- lars of funding.The Measure BB project is expected to go over budget by 30 million dollars. However, if all funding sources were secured, this shortfall would be almost entirely planned for. According to Sam, these shortfalls were caused by a series of issues. Some of these issues were preventable; some were not.Samo’s Measure BB projects ran into a series of unforeseeable issues, like delays in the production of the new Innovation Building’s electrical transformer and problems with Samo’s electrical pathways.“Because of delays and challenges, the construction project is extended and as a result we experience service related shortfalls,” Sam said.According to Sam, the complexity of the project, due to its scope and sustainability features, led to conflict.

“The projects [were] very complex with new sustainable techniques and very complex details so the design team and contractors were often in conflict.” Sam said.Some issues that led to shortfalls could be attributed to mistakes made by the school board.. One particular area of concern raised by Board Members was the ineffective cooling systems built in new Edison Language Academy classrooms. As a result of the unsuccessful implementation of eco-friendly technology, the Board had to install air-conditioning systems in each classroom. According to Sam, this cost approximately 400,000 out of the Measure BB fund. SMMUSD Chief Financial Officer Jan Maez responded to the concern of Board Members by ex- plaining the errors made by the district.“I know we’re all trying to find someone to blame” Maez said. “We told our architects we wanted sustainable buildings. We didn’t tell them what sustainable was, we didn’t give them parameters, we didn’t give them guidelines. We got sustainable buildings but it just doesn’t cool the places our children are in the point we want them too. We need to give our architects and construction workers better guidelines, better parameters and that is something we know about and want to build into the ES process.”Board Member Maria Leon Vazquez expressed anger over the lack of communication between the construction companies [Parsons and California Construction Management (CCM)] and the school district. According to Vazquez, the companies haven’t been accountable for their actions.“We relied on both Parsons and CCM’s recommendations and follow through to work with us directly, I guess our little 268 Million was not that much compared to their [profits]. Vasquez said. For us thats a lot, at the end of the day they have to do whats best for our district... to me, these two companies didn’t step for- ward and help us out...they let us hang... For us to just say lessons learned and move forward with a 30 million dollar loss is not okay.”

Newly elected Board Member Craig Foster asked members of the board what caused so many mistakes during the planning of these Measure BB construction projects. According to Foster, money was spent unnecessarily on overly complex and ambitious architecture including the exterior of Samo’s new Innovation Building.“We as a school district are not sophisticated in construction management,” Foster said. “I feel a little bit like we just got off the bus from Kansas to Grand Central station. How in the future do we make sophisticated decisions about sophisticated stuff?According to Maez, the 30 million dollar shortfall will have to be made up with new money granted by Measure ES, a bond measure passed by voters in 2012. This measure gives the district 385 mil- lion dollars to use for technology and site improvement.“Ultimately, we’d like the board to authorize some of that allocated Measure ES [money] so we can complete the projects and promises of Measure BB,” Maez said.