by Carolyn James

The price is in, and it’s $10 million.

That’s how much it will take the Amityville School District to complete repairs and construction on the Park Avenue site, according to a report expected to be released by the firm this week.

The district has approximately $3.5 million remaining of the $13.8 million voters approved for the project three years ago. The rest of the money—$6.5 million—will have to be raised through taxes, either in the form of an additional bond to be paid for by taxpayers over a period of time, or through the general budget in a single year.

The report was filed after press deadline this week, but when reached for comment, School Board President Stephanie Andrews said the board would likely take some time to discuss the issue and decide what it would do next.

In addition to the general construction that remains, the district must also reconstruct the roof and parts of the building that have been compromised by water. It must take steps to eliminate the presence of "disease causing" bacteria, mold and mildew which has infiltrated the structure and then redo some of the work done under the prior management firm, Christa Construction. Those problems were outlined to the district several months ago in a report by a consultant hired to provide the board with a status of the project, and just before the board decided to fire Christ and hire Park East Construction.

The district expects to recoup some of its losses on the project from its the bonding companies that insured its contractors, including the roofer, Inter County Roofing and its mason and construction manager but the district is also facing lawsuits from Christa and one of the bonding companies, Arisca.

Andrews said several months ago that while the district may prevail in its cases and recoup some of the additional costs that taxpayers must now come up with to finish the building, the district cannot wait for the outcome of those cases to see the project through to completion.

"We have to bite the bullet now and do what is needed to complete this project and get our children and staff back into the school building," she said.