A special meeting of the Danbury City Council is being held tonight about bonding for school projects. The meeting is at 7:30pm in Council Chambers of City Hall. The proposed ordinance authorizes $207.9 million in borrowing for the Danbury Career Academy and work at DHS, King Street and Hayestown Avenue elementary. A public hearing on the bonding originally scheduled for Wednesday, instead will be held on March 28th.
Inflation is playing a role in the projected price increase for the proposed Danbury Career Academy. Public Works Director Antonio Iadarola noted that the new Cartus site would mean additional square footage, compared to when the middle and high school was planned for the Summit. Iadarola says cost projections were modified five times in two weeks after the relocation announcement because of market trends and what's happening with inflation. He's seen indicators showing that inflation in the next year will anywhere from 10 to 12 percent.
School projects are trending over $700 per square foot, a figure that he called insane. Iadarola says it's been around the $300 mark for as long as he can remember, and he's been doing this for three decades.
The estimated cost of the Danbury Career Academy is $338 per square foot. Iadarola noted that while lumber prices are down a bit, copper wire costs are up and steel prices are through the roof. He added that there are also extremely high trucking costs currently.
