Whittier Part III
Why is it so expensive? And while we're at it, why is every project here so expensive?
The people have spoken. Voters came out in droves to vote against the construction of a new Whittier Tech building by an almost 3 to 1 margin, despite lots of money and effort by unions and the contractor, Consigli, pushing for a yes vote.
So instead of building a new $444 million building, which would be partially paid for by state money, the district could be looking at repairing the existing structure, which is estimated to cost around $350 million, but with no state aid.
Despite a lot of misinformation about the project on social media, there are some fair and pragmatic explanations about how we’ve arrived at these choices including an excellent description by former Newburyport Mayor and current member of Whittier School Committee Donna Holaday, which you can read here.
The question that almost never gets asked is why are these numbers so high, and why does every construction project in Massachusetts cost so darn much?
Aside from the high cost of living and doing business here, and the abundance of regulations that drives up the cost of everything, there’s the perpetual issue of prevailing wage laws. These require every worker on every public project to receive an hourly wage that supposedly prevails in a given geographic area, even though most workers in the same profession do not receive them.
You can find a list of wage rates for each type of worker in the Haverhill area here, and they look something like this:
These are from a few years ago so the rates are even higher now, and you’ll notice they go up quite regularly, both because the base wage gets higher as well as costs for health insurance and pensions. The bottom line is that the longer it takes for the district to come to a decision the higher the cost will be, regardless of whether we decide to repair the existing building or build a new one. Contractors will be required to pay these wages either way.
This is the main reason why every public building, and every road, bridge, dam, playground, park, etc. costs so much more here than in neighboring states. If Whittier was located just a few miles north in New Hampshire it would cost a fraction of the cost here.
In addition to increasing costs there’s the issue of these laws having a racist effect on contracting here. It’s no secret that the federal PW law known as Davis Bacon was passed for blatantly racist reasons and has been compared to Jim Crow laws. It started when Rep. Robert Bacon of New York secured funding for a veterans hospital on Long Island and was horrified when a contractor from Alabama won the bid and came to New York with a crew of Black construction workers.
Thus came bill H.R. 17069, "A Bill to Require Contractors and Subcontractors Engaged on Public Works of the United States to Comply with State Laws Relating to Hours of Labor and Wages of Employees on State Public Works."
The floor speeches by Congressmen made in support of the bill are appalling, and I won’t quote them here but you can read them for yourself at the link above. Suffice it to say that maybe Black History Month is a good time to consider how these laws have had a terrible effect on employment of Black workers and the advancement of Black owned companies. This is to the detriment of all because it severely limits the number of contractors willing and able to even bid on a project.
As someone who worked in the construction industry for over 30 years I can tell you that the paperwork and requirements for PW jobs can be stultifying, it drives companies away from doing any public projects, and so we’re left with a tiny number of companies that get the bulk of the work. It creates a huge barrier to entry for smaller businesses which are increasingly minority owned.
It’s led several people to comment about how we could save a ton of money by having a developer build a new school with private money and then lease it back to the state or district, with maybe an option to buy at an agreed upon price. This would most certainly drive down the cost and reduce our payments. The fun part would come in picking a new location which, under the existing charter, would have to be within five miles of the Rocks Village Bridge.
In the meantime, my sources are telling me that there could be a move to strike a new deal where the state picks up more of the tab so that the district funds a smaller percentage of the project.
Stay tuned!
BOY LENNY, YOU REALLY DID YOUR HOMEWORK ON THIS ONE!!!! I HOPE EVERYONE APPRECIATES ALL YOUR TIME AND HARD WORK ON THIS! PEOPLE DO NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT TRULY GOES ON IN BUILDING, AND NEITHER DID I, AFTER READING THIS! YOU SHOULD PUT THIS IN THE PAPERS SO ALL CAN READ IT!!! LEENY, THESE ARE INCREDIBLE NUMBERS! YOU ARE A VERY SMART MAN TO HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ALL THIS! KUDOS TO YOU MY FRIEND AND THANK YOU FOR DOING ALL THIS! KAY LEE OGDEN
Lenny, hands down, this is your best Mirra Memo to date.