$4.5M In Cost Overruns For Hinsdale D-86 Projects

DARIEN, IL — With its latest bids, Hinsdale High School District 86 is seeing $4.5 million in cost overruns for projects at Central and South high schools.

The district is blaming supply chain issues and labor shortages for the added costs. A similar story is being told elsewhere, including in Elmhurst School District 205, which is seeing nearly $16 million in overruns.

In Elmhurst, officials plan to offset the deficit by dipping into its bank accounts. In District 86, officials are talking about "value engineering" for later projects as a way to cut costs.

Josh Stephenson, District 86's chief financial officer, said officials have no intention to reduce the scope of projects. They were planned as part of a referendum in April 2019. In that election, voters allowed the district to go $140 million into debt for projects to improve the schools.

Because of the recent issues, the district decided to re-bid four of the 18 packages next month, with the hope of getting better prices.

"This will give us more time to reach out to contractors. We're really trying to give them an opportunity," said Marty Platten of Pepper Construction, the district's project manager.

From an inflation perspective, he said his firm expects to return to normal for the next phase of construction projects. But he said the labor shortages would likely persist.

At Thursday's board meeting, members approved 14 bids.

"Unfortunately, there are circumstances beyond our control driving the cost increases," member Erik Held said.