An increase in the cost of building marching band observation towers at four Fayette County high schools will up the project’s budget to the tune of $315,000. The Board of Education voted 5-0 at its Nov. 30 meeting to allocate another $65,000 of ESPLOST funds to the previous $250,000 budget, which was originally approved in May 2018 to cover all five schools.
The new band tower at Fayette County High School is already completed, but Chief Financial Officer Tom Gray told the board that construction of the four towers for the other schools was put on hold due to higher steel prices and issues with the original Texas vendor. A new vendor has been found, but higher concrete and steel costs, plus additional design work to match the specs of the first tower, resulted in the need to add to the project budget. With that settled, the remaining four towers are scheduled to be completed in the spring.
