Carmel Board of Ed Repeals $10.9M Bus Maintenance Facility Bond
The Carmel Board of Education voted unanimously earlier this month to repeal a $10.9 million bond that was approved by voters in 2019 to construct a bus maintenance facility.
It was the first time in 70 years that a Board of Education in the district revised its plans on a bond. The bond that was narrowly approved on March 26, 2019 had failed two previous times in 2017 and 2018.
“This vote is truly historic and a win for our taxpayers and our community as a whole,” said Trustee John Curzio, chairman of the Facilities and Transportation Committee.
The proposition included $2.8 million for the purchase of the land and $8.1 million for the construction of the bus garage. The resolution passed last week repealed approximately $7.4 million. The remaining $662,000 was previously borrowed and spent on various “soft costs” associated with the project.
Curzio, who opposed the project, said between March 2019 and the fall of 2021, the district was engaged with moving the project forward. However, the construction bid was off by almost 100 percent, according to Curzio, who said the building that was originally supposed to cost $6 million ballooned to $11 million when an unauthorized second floor increasing the planned 16,000 square foot building to 24,000 square feet was added.
The size of the building was then reduced back to the original 16,000 square feet plan and then down to 12,700 square feet. Other reductions were also made, but the project was still over budget by more than $2 million.
The Board of Education discussed next steps throughout the winter of 2021-2022 and finally unanimously agreed at the February 15, 2022 board meeting to call off the project. An official resolution was passed in March 2022.
Curzio said the Board of Education then decided to sell the property. Members of the Facilities and Transportation Committee interviewed brokerage firms and recommended McGrath Realty. At the February 7, 2023 Board of Education meeting, the board approved a Real Estate Brokerage Services Contract with McGrath Realty. The marketing and sale of the land is currently underway.
“Our voters were told that a new multi-million-dollar facility was needed because the current facility could not in any way be upgraded or improved upon because there were protected wetlands in the immediate vicinity,” Curzio stated. “Our architectural firm has since performed a wetland study and determined that there are no wetlands within the area reviewed. As such, no agency or municipal government wetland regulations have jurisdiction.”
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