District 204 says Metea completed on time, safe and under budget

Construction at Metea Valley High School in Aurora was completed this spring ahead of schedule and under budget, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials said.

Some work remained on the 3,000-seat school along Eola Road when it opened last fall to freshmen and sophomores. But now even that part of the 15-month project is complete.

Officials on Monday said they recalculated budget figures in January 2008 to estimate the project would cost $144,243,049. The final price tag came in at $143,966,797 - $276,562 less than projections.

Voters approved a $124.7 million tax increase in 2006 to build Metea. At that time, the district estimated it had about $17 million to $20 million from land-cash donations, bond proceeds and interest that was to be used toward the project in addition to referendum funds, putting the total money available for Metea at $142 million to $145 million.

"It was delivered on time, delivered within the financial plan and the cost to the taxpayers will be better than what was planned. The board continues to meet the referendum commitment and this will be one fine asset to the community for several years to come," Assistant Superintendent for Business Dave Holm said. "Considering the challenges that were ahead of us, we're very pleased that we can bring it in and meet that responsibility to the taxpayers."

Holm said the owner of a $300,000 home in the district in 2005 paid $730 in bond and interest taxes for the 2004 school year. Today, that same property has grown in value to $367,000 but will pay only about $606 in bond and interest taxes for the 2010 tax year.

"So that savings still exists to this day. As property values decline, which we think they will about 4 percent next year, the average home value will go down and in the end, the tax rate will also change," Holm said. "The beauty of that is we're at where we thought we should be and what we were promising the taxpayers in 2005-2006. And we have an upcoming refunding that will save the taxpayers somewhere between $1.6 million and $2.2 million over the life of the bond. When that happens, that $606 figure will drop below $600."

Superintendent Kathryn Birkett said she is particularly pleased with how smoothly things went during the school's first year.

"We're excited about the way we've opened it and we've done it in a really fiscally responsible manner," she said. "I challenge any district to build a high school in 15 months and do it as well as we have done it."