Southington School Boiler Project To Cost More

SOUTHINGTON, CT — School starts today (Sept. 1) and Strong Elementary School on 820 Marion Ave. will soon have a new means to control the temperatures when cold weather arrives.

But it will cost school officials more than expected.

Last month, the Southington Board of Education unanimously voted to award a $164,600 bid to Sav-Mor Cooling & Heating Inc. out of Southington to replace two boilers at Strong.

At last month's school board meeting, member Zaya Oshana reported on behalf of the board's finance committee on the situation.

He said Sav-Mor was the low-bidder, with a base price of $82,300 per boiler, with Strong needing two.

The school district's budget, however, only budgeted $148,000 for the boiler project, meaning Southington needed to come up with $16,600 to get two.

Since Sav-Mor was still the low bidder and Strong needed two boilers, the finance committee recommended awarding a contract to Sav-Mor, then using other funds outside the boiler budget to cover the rest.

The plan is to use non-lapsing funding leftover from the 2020-21 school budget to cover the rest of the cost.

School board members agreed with the committee Aug. 11 and unanimously said "yes" to finalizing the Strong boiler contract with Sav-Mor.

For the minutes of the Aug. 11 Southington Board of Education meeting, click on this link.

For more information on Strong Elementary School, click on this link.