It’s not unusual for a government project to end up costing more than expected, but $10 million is a lot of money.

In 2006, voters approved a $49.7 million bond for the Twin Falls School District to construct a $37.6 million second high school in the city and fund sweeping improvements at the district’s existing facilities.

The total for all projects, expected to be $48,296,795, has ended up costing $58,482,859, largely attributed to about $10 million in cost overruns at Canyon Ridge.

In March 2008, voters again agreed to fund school improvements when they passed a $33 million plant-facilities levy for the district. The combined levy and bond were for the new high school, as well as other district projects, including multipurpose rooms at Bickel, Perrine, Morningside and Harrison elementary schools and remodeling the chemistry lab at Twin Falls High School.

Twin Falls School District Superintendent Wiley Dobbs and district spokeswoman Beth Pendergrass both emphasized that expenses were driven by inflation — which, they said, caused building costs to increase 30 percent above projected numbers from 2006.

Recent school construction in other Magic Valley locations — the new Kimberly Middle School and the College of Southern Idaho’s Health Sciences and Human Services building, for example — have run according to projected costs and on time.

The current numbers for Canyon Ridge have been, for all practical purposes, finalized — but, Dobbs said, some of it could change over the next few months as details are reviewed.

“I can’t imagine it will be any different, but we’re reviewing everything to make sure what we paid for is what we got,” he said, referring to relatively minor issues such as asphalt grading that may need to be corrected.

In those cases, however, the corrections will be billed to the construction company in charge of particular projects and not the school district, Dobbs emphasized.

The $800,000 multipurpose room at Sawtooth Elementary, now under construction, is the final project from the original 2006 bond and is expected to be complete sometime early next year.

Some of the ancillary projects — including landscaping plans and bleachers on the upper level of the Canyon Ridge gym — were put on hold or canceled, primarily because of financial impediments but, in some cases, because schools simply decided they weren’t necessary.

“When we created this plan and put it in place, the committee examined all of the projects and asked principals, ‘Do you still need this?’” Dobbs said. “In some cases, they decided they didn’t want certain projects if it meant knocking down walls and limiting classroom space.”

Several improvement projects at Twin Falls High School, Dobbs said, will be finished within the next five years by using funds from the facilities levy, but he estimated that about half of the improvements proposed to voters are complete.

“We’re looking at this as a promise made to the community. Having said that, over the course of time, we checked back and tinkered with some of it,” Dobbs said. “We’ve had to make some changes but not to encumber future taxpayers … We know things can change in the future, and we may have to add some things.”

Dobbs said that much of the $10 million in overruns for the high school can be offset by selling a few of the 80 acres of land owned by the district in the Canyon Ridge area.

Earlier this month, the Twin Falls City Council approved commercial development on land near Canyon Ridge. The district intends to subdivide 4.2 acres — leaving plenty of property for future expansion, Dobbs said — on the southwest corner of Cheney Drive West and Washington Street North and sell the property as five commercial lots, which, district officials said at the time, will attract more buyers than trying to sell the entire parcel to one buyer.

Dobbs estimated that about $6.5 million of the $10 million in overruns will be augmented by selling the land for $2-3 million and from $5 million in various district investments.

He acknowledged, however, that selling the land isn’t guaranteed.

Pendergrass emphasized that the rest of the overruns will be folded into the facilities levy.

“So taxpayers don’t have to worry about another levy,” she said.

Damon Hunzeker may be reached at dhunzeker@magicvalley.com or 208-735-3204.