Mary ByrneDrastic cuts of roughly $4 million are needed to bring the municipal rink’s total cost down to the $30 million budgeted for its design and construction.
The Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee is looking for ways to address the projected cost being over budget and cut $2 million—or possibly more—from the overall project.
“We may have to build a bare-bones building,” Chair Mark Haley said Monday night as part of an update to Town Meeting members. “But to… get us to budget is dramatically impacting what this building will be if we cut out all these things the stakeholders asked us to put into the building.”
Building committee members are also examining other potential funding sources, such as the Kendall Fire Insurance Fund—which would require Town Meeting approval—private fundraising, or the School Department.
The possibility of turning to Town Meeting this spring and asking for more money also remains – though Haley emphasized that town officials likely wouldn’t entertain a request larger than $2 million.
At Monday’s Town Meeting session, Haley explained that after a series of cost estimates were provided for conceptual designs, Town Meeting approved a budget of $29,900,000, of which $1.3 million would be covered by donations, leaving bonding for the project at $28.6 million.
In June 2022, Annual Town Meeting established the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee to oversee the design and construction of the building, located west of Harris Field, at the site of the original municipal rink. In April 2023, voters approved a debt exclusion for the new facility.
At a Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee last week, Haley identified several cost overruns, including a roughly $3.5 million increase in trade costs such as concrete and masonry, the site package, plumbing, and other smaller items. According to meeting minutes from February, issues on the site also impacted costs, including asbestos-containing materials found in two locations and a small oil spill. A water main near the site also broke.
Altogether, the increases have brought the cost of the project in excess of $34 million.
According to Haley, the project has incurred demolition costs to date. The metal building was also purchased, he said, and that came in on budget.
Committee members met twice last week to review the budget line by line, looking for possible cuts. No votes were taken.
“We’re going to have to make some tough decisions,” said committee member Dante Muzzioli. “I think it’s time we make these decisions as quickly as possible so this project isn’t held up any further than it’s been.”
In an exercise called value engineering, members debated various savings on several project elements, including cutting out the lobby, eliminating solar panels on the roof and windows at the front of the structure, reducing bleacher seating, and swapping out materials for more cost-effective alternatives. While some proposed reductions represented aesthetic changes, others could potentially reduce the building’s functionality.
“A rink does not have a lot of frills to do value engineering,” Haley said at Town Meeting Monday night. “There’s not a lot you can cut.”
TGAS Design was tasked with evaluating the list of potential areas for reduction and returning to the committee along with the builder, Skanska USA, to provide revised cost estimates. Any design changes agreed upon by the committee will be incorporated into construction plans.
In June 2022, Annual Town Meeting established the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee to oversee the design and construction of the building, located west of Harris Field, at the site of the original municipal rink. In April 2023, voters approved a debt exclusion for the new facility.
