$17.5M In Cost Overruns With Elmhurst D-205 Projects

ELMHURST, IL — The cost overruns for Elmhurst School District 205's building projects are now $17.5 million. Officials fear that number will continue to rise.

The good news is the cost overruns are $2 million less than what was estimated last week.

After bids came in way over budget in December, the district asked its construction manager to come up with new estimates. Officials wanted the new numbers to reflect the realities of surging inflation and supply chain issues.

Under the new estimates, the cost overruns were projected to reach $19.5 million. But bids for the Fischer and Jefferson elementary school projects came in lower than expected.

The projects are part of the $168 million referendum that voters approved in 2019.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, board President Kara Caforio said the district receives emails from residents who worry that the district will go to property taxpayers to cover the overruns. But she said that was not the case.

"These additional funds are coming out of our fund balances," she said.

Board members noted that they still have more than $40 million left in projects to bid out, including for the York High School auditorium. Member Athena Arvanitis said $17.5 million in overruns was "quite a bit of dollars."

"Given where the market is today, an additional increase is possible," Arvanitis said. "How much are we considering being comfortable taking out of the fund balance? I'm voicing this to say I'm being cautious. I want to put it out there that this is substantially different. We still have quite a few more projects."

No one identified an acceptable amount that could be taken from fund balances to cover the overruns.

Todd Schmidt, the district's building and grounds director, said the economic environment appears to have improved since late last year.

"Maybe the market has stabilized a little bit," he said.