As the numbers nonchalantly reported to the Building Committee and shown in the table above reveal, the 5 current school construction projects are a combined $141.4 million over original estimates, and 3 of them, Betances, Kennelly, and Wish have yet to have a shovel stuck in the ground.  The Bulkeley renovation still has 2 years to go!  The Bulkeley and Burns projects are also projected to be completed a year later than anticipated, they have “drifted” into 2025 said a Building Committee spokesman.

You may also note that the “Original Budget” numbers given for Betances, Kennelly, and Wish are not the same “Appropriation” numbers given by the superintendent’s office at the August 8, 2023 Board of Education’s Committee of the Whole meeting.  The superintendent’s numbers totaled nearly $22 million more than what the Building Committee is reporting.

For those tuning into the Burns renovation project late, it might be interesting to learn why a $55 million school renovation contract did not include a playground and athletic field.  I only ask due to the fact that at the BOE’s July 18th Regular Meeting, four members of the BOE approved a separate $150,000 contract to the company Aqua Turf to build these spaces.  The city is reimbursed to some extent for these school construction projects by the state, separate contracts given to Aqua Turf by half of the BOE are not reimbursed.  Great application of resources, Ms. Superintendent.  You’re fired!

And as for the $141.4 million over budget number?  Director of Capital Projects for the City of Hartford told the Building Committee members, it’s the “best we can do,” while also adding, “it is what it is.”  Then later he had the nerve to say that “we are the stewards of taxpayer dollars.”  You’re fired too!

According to a Connecticut School Finance Project report by the state in 2018, Connecticut funds school construction through General Obligation (GO) bonds (along with some federal funding). These bond sales are used to reimburse the city and the district for the cost of the project.  Typically, the reimbursement rate ranges from 10% - 80% of the cost of construction.  Thus, the local taxpayer suffers the slings and arrows of idiocy and budget overruns.

A 2021 Global Construction Survey by the consulting folks KPMG states that while that “core objective” of construction companies may ostensibly be to “deliver high-quality projects on schedule and on budget,” increasing project complexity, plus the pressure to build bigger, faster and more cost-effectively, has outpaced the ability to control risks, costs and schedules, resulting in continued failures—sometimes, regrettably, on an epic scale.”  Or as Mr. Drummey states, “it is what it is.”

The KPMG survey found that 37% of respondents said that their construction companies missed budget or schedule targets by 20% or more “as a result of COVID-19.”  Similar statistics were reported by other sources well before COVID was a thing.  Four of Hartford’s 5 school project’s budget targets are over 30% while Burns is at 15% with 2 years to go.

A Washington Post story in June of this year quoted an Oxford University professor’s study which showed that only 8.5% of construction projects finish on time and on budget.  Thus, we get the reporting of over budget numbers with a wave of the hand and an “it is what it is” epitaph.  It’s like your child telling you, “But Ma, everybody is doing it!”

Sure, you can never tell what may happen until you stick a shovel in the ground.  However, clearer planning, estimating, managing, and some shared risk would go a long way to protecting the taxpayer dime.