If the budget increase is not approved at the December 8 referendum, the FHS Building Committee will have to further reduce the project scope and/or utilize the contingency/FF&E budgets to cover costs and keep the project below the original 2021 total project budget of $135.6 million. These additional cuts would be detrimental to educational programming.
In addition, long-term costs associated with these cuts will be higher. Less durable building materials will need to be used in some cases, resulting in increased maintenance costs and the need to hire additional maintenance and custodial staff. Other items, such as the tennis courts and classroom technology, will need to be included at a later date and, if not included now, will not be eligible for State reimbursement. This means that the full cost of those items will fall on the taxpayers, and prices will most likely increase in the future.