The new West Wendover Elementary School will be delayed anywhere from six to 18 months, said Elko County School district Superintendent.
This week base on recommendations from school district staff the Elko county School Board rejected all bids for the the elementary school.
“Every bid came in over the estimated budget,” Zander explained. “We will have to go back to the drawing board and maybe do some cutting.”
The new elementary was part of a $33 million project that also included a retro fit of the current elementary school into a middle school and a new road to alleviate traffic congestion and a ball field.
The school board put the project at the top of the “pay as you go” agenda in last week’s meeting which means construction on the new school could start in 2014 and be completed in 2015.
Pay-as-you-go school tax revenue through the end of fiscal year 2013 is estimated at just over $39 million, according to the five-year plan.
The need for a middle school in West Wendover was acknowledged almost since the West Wendover Jr/Sr high school opened in 1996.
However the project was sidelined in the late 1990’s when the price of gold collapsed and tax revenues in Elko County subsequently plunged. Talk of the new middle began again in the mid 2000’s but again the economy turned sour in the Great Recession and all building projects were put on indefinite hold.
In the meantime West Wendover made due with stopped gap temporary trailers that now house about 50 percent of its elementary students.
The district had planned for a maximum of about $33 million to be spent for the school, Zander said. Bids came in at nearly $40 million.
Board members they would not vote to accept the bid if it would mean postponing other projects in the district because of budgetary concerns.