The rise in construction costs is forcing the Union Springs Central School District to scale down renovations to its historic Stone Schoolhouse.

After receiving final approval from the state Education Department last summer, the district sent out to bid contracts for its near $300,000 capital project to renovate the condemned 150-year-old school building.

But only two contractors bid on the project, and those bids, Superintendent Linda Rice said, came in “significantly higher than we thought.”

Rice attributed the rise in the cost of construction materials to the high bids.

Over the next month, C&S Engineers, the engineering and architectural firm with which the district contracts, will be scrutinizing the plans, looking for ways to cut back while still maintaining the project's integrity, Rice said.

But any changes to the project's scope will not need approval from the Education Department, which would have likely caused delays.

“The repackage will need to be submitted to SED as an addendum for review,” C&S architect Glenn Woodbury stated in an e-mail sent to Rice Wednesday. “Their review will not need to be prior to putting the project back out to bid. We already have a building permit from them and are only reducing scope.”

Last December, taxpayers overwhelmingly approved the capital project to renovate the building into a state-of-the-art media center, housing the current video technology course offered at the middle/high school as well as various other media and communications.

At the time, district leaders estimated the project's cost to be about $296,821. Of that amount, $207,433 was secured in building aid units - the cost of construction of an educational facility by square foot - from the Education Department and $77,888 was secured in EXCEL aid for the technology piece.

The district will borrow the remaining $11,500 with the taxpayers picking up the bill for $20,052 in capitalized interest which will be paid back over 16 years.

“I think the district's goal is to honor the community's wishes that we preserve the Stone Schoolhouse,” Rice said, “that we use it for an educationally sound purpose and do it as fiscally responsible as we can, which means to stay within the guidelines mandated by the (state Education Department), such as health, safety and facility usage.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net