By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — A low bidder has been revealed for the construction of a community elementary school in the Cahaba Project area of Trussville.
Trussville-based Blalock Building Company is the apparent low bidder with a total bid of $11,088,000. Blalock Building Company was the company that won the bid for constructing Hewitt-Trussville Stadium, which was completed in October 2014.
Tuscaloosa-based Amason & Associates, Inc. was next with a total bid of $11,903,000. Birmingham-based Argo Building Company, which was the low bidder for the Magnolia Place community elementary school, bid a total of $12,224,116.
A rendering of what the elementary school in the Cahaba Project will look like, as seen from where Jack Wood Stadium currently stands
photo courtesy of Trussville City Schools
Trussville City Schools’ available funds for the project totaled $12,152,170.
Bids for the elementary school in the Magnolia Place area were opened last month, with Birmingham-based Argo Building Company revealed as the low bidder at $15,229,235. Trussville City Schools’ available funds for that project totaled $10,862,350.
Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill said last month that there is a plan in place to “remedy” the difference in the school system’s budget and the low bid. A committee has been studying the bid and what the school should include. Reductions in the original school plan could be made to make the school affordable.
Neill said in January that she was “very comfortable” with where the school system is at in the process, noting that all the wants of the system and committees were included when the design plans were drawn up, instead of going with a base bid and adding change orders later in the process.
The Trussville City Board of Education will meet in a special session Thursday, Feb. 12 at 8:30 a.m. to take action on the bids. A work session begins at 8 a.m.
Each school will accommodate up to 500 students. The total cost — including construction, renovation, site work, contingency and other costs — for both schools was projected to be around $23 million.
The plan is to open both schools for the 2016-2017 school year.
Based on this year’s enrollment, there would be 427 students attending the New Deal-era school building in the Cahaba Project, 374 at the school in the Magnolia Place area and 1,025 students at the Paine Elementary Campus. With enrollment likely to increase in Trussville, building the schools to accommodate 500 students each now is logical, according to school officials.
Trussville residents on Feb. 25, 2014 voted to approve a seven-millage property tax increase to fund the two new community elementary schools. The final results of the vote were 2,813 people in favor of the increase, while 1,935 voted against it. Seven additional mills in property taxes will cost Trussville residents $70 per year on homes appraised at $100,000, $140 per year on homes appraised at $200,000 and $210 per year on homes appraised at $300,000.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
