The middle school and high school construction projects could be less expensive than expected because the state Department of Education recently changed its project reimbursement formula.

The difference between RIDE’s old reimbursement formula and the new one could mean millions of dollars in savings for East Greenwich, said project manager Jon Winikur, of SBS, told the Town Council and School Committee at a joint meeting Monday night. 

“It’s great news,” said Superintendent Victor Mercurio after the meeting. “It says a lot about the state’s commitment to helping out the districts. It’s very exciting.”

When the Cole Middle School construction project and the high school renovations were first budgeted, RIDE planned to reimburse up to 30 percent of the cost of the two projects – about $10.8 million for the Cole project and $2.1 million for the high school renovation, according to a spreadsheet Winikur prepared for the elected officials.

But under the new RIDE reimbursement plan the state will cover as much as $13.9 million of the Cole project costs and $2.6 of the high school project costs, according to his spreadsheet.

Including the smaller school projects that are part of the $52 million bond passed by residents to renovate local public schools, East Greenwich could realize an additional $5 million in savings on the projects.

Winikur said that means that the town could fix the floor at Meadowbrook School and repair the entire roof at the high school – two projects that have been debated as of late – and still save more than $6 from the $52 million bond that voters approved for the projects, considering the savings already realized because of lower-than-expected bids on the two projects.

“We bid the projects in a very favorable environment and this adds to that,”

Mercurio said. About using the newly realized potential savings to take on other school renovations, Mercurio added, “I think folks are going to have a variety of opinions, but if we are able to do [the projects] at a favorable price point, it makes the argument even more compelling.”

Winikur said he and school officials met with RIDE officials recently to discuss the new reimbursement rate. He said they will be meeting again this week to discuss further the potentially better reimbursement rate.

“It’s not a done deal,” Winikur said after the meeting. “We need the meeting this week to continue the dialogue.”

But, he added, “We’re guaranteed to get more reimbursement than we thought we would. I think [the spreadsheet] is a realistic scenario.”

Winikur said he didn’t know exactly why the reimbursement rate was changed, but said, “My base understanding is that the towns not realizing a great deal of state aid were being adversely affected.”

RIDE offers school districts a financial reimbursement on money spent on school housing projects. According to information on its website, “reimbursement ratios are calculated based on property values and student counts.”

The reimbursement ratio was recalculated, “as a result of the Auditor General’s recent limited review of the school housing aid program,” according to the information.

At the meeting, the Council also approved spending $283,000 to fix a leaky section of the high school roof over the new guidance suite.