DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — The city school district will require construction companies building its new schools to pay union wages going forward — for now.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday, May 6, to add language to is bidding requirements. The wage rules will apply to the next three schools built.

The move left nonunion contractors — some of whom have worked on the district's prior projects — miffed.

"We're very disappointed," said Kathleen Somers, president of Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. of the Ohio Valley, a nonunion contractors group. "That vote tonight cost taxpayers a lot of money unnecessarily."

School board President Yvonne Isaacs said the move was designed to attract more local companies to the projects, companies board members hope will employ more local people and minorities to build Dayton's new schools.

If the experiment works and the school projects stay on budget, Isaacs said the rule will remain for the remaining nine schools still to be built.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Dayton and we want to make sure that we see the people actually paying the taxes have benefitted," she said.

The district is about to begin its last phase of construction. In the first two phases, the district made no requirement for workers' wages and projects mostly fell short of the district's goals for local and minority participation.

But in the last year, the Ohio School Facilities Commission gave districts more latitude to set wage rules.

Last month, the CEO of the company managing the next phase of construction for the district — Shook Construction — argued in a letter to contractors that union wages could increase local and minority participation on school building projects. The CEO, Vince Corrado, said there would be little or no additional cost to the district if the bidders adjust their other costs to compensate.

Somers called that assertion "hogwash." She said the new rule will raise construction costs and discourage local nonunion companies.

"We are going to be watching closely to see if the numbers are hit," she said.

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