Construction and Facilities

Renovation vs. New Construction Studies
(State Reimbursement Process)

One of the main values that our team brings to the table is our clear understanding of the State of Connecticut reimbursement process regarding construction projects and the CT General Statutes and Regulations.

The first step is trying to understand all financial impacts the project can have on the town. Therefore, it is important to first review all the work that has taken place in the facility and if it was funded by the State of CT in the past twenty years. This step is important because Section 10-283-3A of the CT General Statutes states that, “Any town or regional school district which abandons, sells, leases, demolishes or otherwise redirects the use of such a building project to other than a public school use during such amortization period (20 years for projects greater than $2million or 10 years for project costing less than $2million) shall refund to the state the unamortized balance of the state grant remaining as of the date of abandonment, sale, lease, demolition, or redirection occurs. The amortization period for a project shall begin on the date the project was accepted as complete by the local or regional board of education.”

A key item to understand is that there is a big difference in reimbursement between an alteration project (a smaller scale renovation consisting of renovating less than 75% of the facility that is at least 30 years old) and a renovate-as-new project as per CGS 10-282. State reimbursement is far less for an alteration project than for a renovate-as-new project due to the amount of items that would be considered as ineligible (e.g. work deemed as repair, replacement and maintenance).

Our team’s strength comes from doing this in-depth analysis up-front as part of the feasibility study, comparing project aspects and options to the various reimbursement scenarios, thereby giving the Owner what they need in order to make the best informed decision.