Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1896-11-13
COST OF NEW HIGH SCHOOL.
One Hundred Thousand Dollars Will
Not Cover the Total EX-
penditure.
The Present Board Has Made a Fine
Record for Economy and Exact
Figuring.

SAbt
what the new High school building has
cost them and a TRIBUNE reporter yes.
terday undertook to dig into the records
OF the board of trustees, with a view to
arriving at the facts. It may be said at
the outset that the exact cost cannot be
stated at this time, as there are many
accounts still unsettled and a number
of cases where there is a considerable
margin between the claims made by con
tractors and the amounts the board are
willing to pay in final settlement. There
are q number of expenses incurred in
connection with the building, such as
lawyers fees here and in Chicago, ex-
penses OF members of the board who
made trips to Chicago to try and
strengthen out the legal tangle in which
the fret issue of bonds became involved
through the failure of the Merchants
National bank, cash put up in lieu of
bonds in the Chicago case, expenses of
the high school investigation committee,
printing and advertising and items of
this character, which are not directly
ch%argeable to the building, but still
constitute expenses incurred by the dis
trict on account of the new building.
While exact figures cannot be given, yet
it can now he stated that the new school
will cost the taxpayers, when all the
bills are finally settled, more than $780,
OOo, A few Of the items comprised in
this figure are instructive.
The original purpose of the board was
to contine the total cost of the COM
pleted building, ready for occupancy, to
$4,000. Mckay Bros. offered to take
the contract for S59,94O. They we're act
ually paid s79,253 IA, and have still q
claim in for S155,S5. or the sum paid
Mckay Bros contract, s12,9l4.87 was
for extra foundation" OF the sub.
under Mckay Bros, Joseph
Balm received for brick and stone work
t36,O93.S0, and since that time the board
has been compelled to pay for q number
Of small items which should have been
performed by Balm under the contract,
but we're not discovered till too late
J. II. Donlin was paid, as ~subcontractor
carpenter work, Sl7.sOO. He has rem
.ered bills for "extras," in addition to
the above, amounting, in all, to
sl,9Go23, most of which has been paid.
but his last bill WAS cut down s3l4 by
the board on account of numerous omie-
alleged to have been made in car
Tying out the original contract.
The account is not finally settled.
The subcontract of Gust G.
for roof and cornice work, came
% $500, which was paid. He claimed
or "extras" s455. 32, but this claim was
educed by the board to S253. 10 by
charges. w. j. Winters claimed,
or plasterlng contract, 81, 100 and for
extras" 1885. The latter item was re.
Iuced by the board to $1,000. The
treat Falls Iron works we're paid for
'eam and iron work Sl,347. 81, the full
mount of their clam. II. Wildekopf
vas paid for painting and 1inting work
2,23o. lie sent in a bill for s22.3 for
'extr' - IN addition, but the committee
-lsallowed it all on the ground that he
Iad not carried out the former contract
ccordlng to specifications, Ind that, as
matter of fact, he bad boon overpaid.
I%unkett, Smith a. Duncan submitted a /
i'll for $1,000 on heating plant contract, {
"extraa' amounting to $1,000. The i
item ives disallowed in the sum OF r
local for testing plant) The
Western hardware company had a 6
ontract for plumbing, which amounted
} S3,99J. They clpimed $50 for "extras"
were allowed 500. A. Hender- {
rendered a bill for $780, As for sex
as connected with the heating plant,
nd all but Slo25 Of this sum has been
aid. The desks, chai.s and shades in :
building cost Sl,2l4. l8, OF which sum l
I. F.. Curtin e. Co. will receive all but
1850. The blackboards, ordered from e
:. f. Weber e. Co., cost SS7G.59. The
win City School Furniture company
1875 T a%rmchairs, costing
1928. The electric light company re.
for wiring the building 1910.
urphy, Maclay d Co., for hardware,
ceived SG33.5G. Architect White re-
lived for his plans and superintendence
,7OS.C5.
The above constitute the main claims
esented and allowed in the cost OF con-
ructing the new High school. Owing
the negligence and unbusinesslike
ethods of former boards, a great deal
money has been spent which might
I've been saved. The bond on
e original contract was made
valid by changes in the contract and
the boards becoming responsible to
ID a great task imposed on them to
b contractors. The present board have
out the affairs of the board
d prevent more leaks. The building ,
mmittee and auditing committee have 1
days and many evenings in look s
: after the business of the board, and
BY are entitled to the gratitude of the {
for the way in which they =.
We performed the task without any |
and with a slim prospect "
IN of appreciation from the taxpayers, '
whose interests they have been work n
The fact that over $4,000 has =
an expended by the new board in the r
npletion Of the High school building :.
l that they have come out within 500 Il
their estimate, made before they I;
nmenced on the work, shows that
y have been careful and makes their II
ninistration stand mrt in shining con-
at to the reCorI u tina boards that Ii
lN,G