The Federal Emergency Management Agency has accepted an estimate on damages at the Hunt campus that could result in more than $10 million more in relief funds coming the district’s way for repairs.
Project architect Taylor Guild III told Columbus Municipal School District trustees on Tuesday that FEMA had accepted the district’s estimate of $13.7 million for repairing three buildings at the Hunt Campus — the original two-story building, home economics building and two-story annex building — that were damaged by a February 2019 tornado. This far exceeds FEMA’s original estimate of close to $1.6 million for the four-building complex, for which the agency only relied on insurance company estimates without stepping foot inside the buildings.
FEMA accepted the larger estimate after CMSD had asked it to review its original findings.
“Based on the actual cost today of the reroofing project, asbestos abatement and the bids we received last summer for those three buildings, just the construction cost was at $13.9 million,” Guild told the board. “The estimates I did, and FEMA has accepted to date, were $13.7 million, so we’re already way above the game. This number does not include hazard mitigation, which is another $2.5 million, and does not include the cost to repair the Hunt Museum. … Things are moving forward, and it looks like I can see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Once the documents with the new estimate are approved, which Guild expects to be some time next week, there will be a 60-day waiting period before the money is obligated and the district can move forward with construction.
FEMA will pay 75 percent of the costs, with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and CMSD each chipping in 12.5 percent.
“This is good news,” board president Yvonne Cox said after Guild’s report. “… This is truly a blessing. Thank you so much, Mr. Guild.”
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