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ABC of Ohio Blasts Decision by
Ohio School Facilities Commission

11th Hour addition limits competition and wastes taxpayer dollars

COLUMBUS, 7/30/07 – Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio (ABC) railed against action taken Thursday by the Ohio School Facilities Commission. The Commission passed a resolution that guides local boards of education to mandate prevailing wage and project labor agreements on school construction bid guidelines. These late additions were not included in the initial outline and passed with little public debate.

Braden Black, President of ABC of Ohio, called the new requirements appalling and discriminatory. “When you try to lock out 80% of all contractors from bidding on a project, competition is diminished and prices go up,” Black stated. “Prices will increase nearly 20% for each school built with a PLA. For every five schools built with a PLA, one school will never be built. Whose schools will that be in the end?”

A study last year conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University concluded that PLAs added 18% to cost of a construction project. With more than $1.6 billion in Ohio school construction slated for 2008, a PLA on every project would waste more than $280 million.

“With school districts around the state tightening their belt, how could they ever justify to the taxpayers increasing the local shared cost of building a new school?” Shane Ostrowski, Director of Government Affairs for ABC of Ohio added. It should be noted the Dayton school district just cut their budget by more than $30 million dollars, 18% of its total budget, and laid off teachers. “This is clearly a gift to the union contractors on the backs of the students, teachers and taxpayers.”

Senate President Bill Harris stated the previous program was a “model for the nation” and prior school construction was completed “with quality workmanship, but also by making our dollars stretch as far as we could.” Like President Harris, ABC of Ohio knows change is not always for the better.

Associated Builders and Contractors is the largest construction association devoted to the merit shop contractor. The ABC of Ohio organization consists of all three chapters in Ohio and is part of the 78 chapters in a nationwide federation consisting of more than 23,000 member companies across the United States.