By Jennifer Mrozowski
Enquirer staff writer
and Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

Rising construction costs are forcing school districts throughout the Tristate to tighten project budgets, just as Ohio revs up its multibillion-dollar school building program.

From Northern Kentucky to Middletown, districts say they are feeling the squeeze, as the costs of everything from nails and lumber to bricks and steel have climbed. Some have been forced to rebid or scale back projects.

"The increases are more than I've ever seen in my entire career in construction - over 30 years," said Frank Chapman, business manager for the Middletown Schools.

Chapman, whose district is preparing to build three schools, said the rapid cost increases "will make it more difficult to be able to do some of the optional upgrades that we prefer. But we'll find ways of accomplishing the same end more economically. We will not compromise the quality" of the new schools.

Said Kelley Gamble, finance director for the Kenton County School District: "It's awful. It's disastrous."

Kenton is completely rebuilding two schools this year. One of them, Caywood Elementary, was expected to cost about $11 million, but in the last eight months, the price tag has jumped to $15.2 million based on bids received, Gamble said. The district has enough bonding capacity to pay the extra cost without scaling back projects, but it's difficult, he said.

Gamble cited two factors in Kenton County: A surge in school construction across the region that has reduced the number of companies competing for jobs and a 1996 change in Kentucky law that requires districts to pay prevailing wages. That means non-unionized workers in Northern Kentucky must be paid similarly to union members in Cincinnati.

Other experts blame the economic surge and building boom in China.

Russ Alford, project executive for the $1 billion Cincinnati Public Schools project, said the Chinese boom has caused a shortage of steel. And that has sent steel prices soaring across Ohio, said Rick Savors, spokesman for the Ohio School Facilities Commission, the state agency coordinating and co-funding new schools.

Alan Warner, an architect at Cincinnati-based GBBN Architects, cited cost increases in these key construction materials from April 2003 to April 2004:

• Manufactured steel components, such as a steel beam or column, up 30-40 percent.

• Plywood, up 41 percent.

• Lumber, up 15 percent

• Copper, up 16 percent.

Those and other increased construction costs drove up the project budgets by several hundred thousand dollars on two Cincinnati projects, Cheviot and Winton Hills schools, said Michael Burson, the district's director of facilities. The district has rebid parts of some projects, he said.

Alford said Cincinnati offsets some of the negative effects of cost increases by investing the proceeds from the sale of $480 million in bonds for the project. The district now earns more than $1 million a month in interest on that money while it isn't needed to pay for construction bills.

Mike Dingeldein, vice president of Hamilton-based Steed Hammond Paul Inc. architects, said he foresees tough decisions ahead for school districts that passed bond issues a year ago and are getting ready to bid their projects.

"From October 2003 to now, I've seen a 16-18 percent increase in cost," Dingeldein said. "Any district that passed an issue in 2003 is really struggling to build that project with 2004 prices."

Dingeldein said districts that went out to bid in the summer of 2002 could expect to pay about $94 a square foot for their buildings. That rose to an average of $103 in January 2004. Those going out to bid today should expect to pay $112 to $116 a square foot.

Princeton City School District, which is building or renovating eight elementary schools, saw an increase of $14 million in steel and other construction costs on six of the projects, said Fred Pensinger, the district's project manager.

Pensinger said masonry, drywall and utility costs have increased, too.

"It's across the board," he said.

The district may forgo a $2 million transportation garage that was part of the $65 million rebuilding project. He said the size of school classrooms, gymnasiums and cafeterias won't be affected.

Instead, Pensinger said, the district asked its architects to review the building designs to make the buildings more efficient and to use less steel, where possible. Some ceilings might have to be lower than first envisioned, and the size of some hallways reduced, he said.

The revised drawings are starting to come back in, and Pensinger expects to see up to $8 million in reduced costs because of the cuts in hallway and other space in the buildings.

Enquirer staff writer Karen Gutierrez and the Associated Press contributed.

E-mail jrmozowski@enquirer.com