The Cooperstown Central School board of education approved two bids totaling $1.9 million Wednesday, May 17, for work to replace the roofs of the elementary and middle/high school buildings.

A bid of $1.764 million was awarded to Murnane Building Contractors for the majority of the work and a bid of $142,000 was awarded to M. Gleason and Sons for electrical work.

The total spending plan approved by voters for the project is $3,025,000, said CCS business manager Jim Collison. The $1.9 million in bids does not cover the entire cost of the project, he said. While it is too early to tell what the total price will be, he said it will end up costing less than $3 million.

"We were worried six months ago that we weren't going to have enough," Collison said.

He said the impact on the tax levy was projected at a 1 percent increase when the proposal was put before voters last year.

The project was approved in May 2005 by a vote of 383 to 194.

John Knudson, a principal with Bearsch Compeau Knudson Architects & Engineers, said at the meeting that he couldn't be sure why the costs for the project had not risen in accordance with the across-the-board increases of oil and building materials. He said it might have been that few construction projects are being undertaken this year and that contractors were hoping to lock up what work they could.

"We are definitely under budget," he said. "It's to our benefit, I don't know why, but we'll take it."

Work is scheduled to begin June 26 and should be completed before the 2006-2007 school year begins.

Superintendent Mary Jo McPhail said the project would have a definite impact on the school's summer programming, including the driver's education and CROP programs. She said CROP will have longer days when it is in session, but will meet for only four weeks instead of six. She said some programs impacted by the work will still go on but may be in different locations than usually is the case.

"We're very appreciative of the community's support of the project," McPhail said. "It will have a tremendous positive impact as far as eliminating the leaks we've been living with for a number of years and will greatly improve roof maintenance."

The roof work was originally part of a larger capital project, but it was split off into a separate project early in 2005 when it was determined that the work could not wait and that a smaller proposal would go through the approval process more quickly.

The larger capital project proposed more than $19 million in work at the elementary school building, middle/high school building and bus garage, and was rejected by voters in December 2005 by more than 1,000 votes. A capital project work session on a revised proposal was scheduled for Wednesday night at 5 p.m., after press time.