SCARBOROUGH – The estimated cost of a new Wentworth Intermediate School is $38.3 million, but that figure could drop over the next few weeks as the Town Council prepares to draft a ballot question for November.

The Wentworth Building Committee, a 40-member group that has worked on the proposal for about nine months, presented the working estimates to the town’s school board Thursday night.

“When we talk about numbers tonight, treat them as an outline, treat them as a ceiling,” said Paul Koziell, building committee chair.

“Will we be able to get the number lower? Yes we will,” he said.

Wentworth serves about 775 students in the third, fourth and fifth grades. Supporters say the school must be replaced for a variety of reasons, including overcrowding and health concerns from mold and asbestos.

All along, the building committee’s goal has been to bring a proposal to the voters that is smaller and less expensive than a $38.3 million plan that was shot down at the polls in 2006. Another bond on the ballot that year, proposing $16.5 million for renovations at Scarborough Middle School, also failed.

While the overall cost discussed Thursday night is within a few thousand dollars of the 2006 proposal, committee members say it’s essentially $4 million less, when adjusted for inflation.

At 163,000 square-feet, the proposed building is 21,800 square feet smaller than the earlier proposal, and it includes 40 classrooms instead of 46.

“A lot of real sharpening of the pencils has been done,” said architect Daniel Cecil of Harriman Associates. Just in the past two weeks, more than 9,000 square feet have been cut from the plan, he said.

Koziell said the building committee will continue to refine the plan, and hopefully bring down the costs, before discussing the project at a workshop with the Town Council next week.

If there are no major snags, the council could set the language for the ballot question at its July 20 meeting. The Nov. 8 vote coincides with the general state and federal elections.

The proposal includes a full-size gymnasium that would be used by multiple schools, including high school athletic programs and community leagues and events; office and storage space for Scarborough’s community services; and a kitchen where food would be prepared for about 1,500 students from the town’s three primary schools and Wentworth.

A geothermal heating and cooling system, which could provide long-term energy cost savings, could be added to the project for $3.2 million.

The committee, however, is not finished with an estimate for the return on investment for such a system. They hope to have that figure available in the next few weeks so town councilors can consider whether to include the system in the proposal that goes to voters.

If the new school wins public approval, construction will begin next year, with the goal of opening for the fall of 2014. The existing Wentworth school would be demolished.

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:

tmaxwell@pressherald.com