WORCESTER, Mass. - The City Council unanimously approved a loan order for $23 million in additional funding to cover unexpected increases in construction costs at the new Doherty Memorial High School project.

The project broke ground in Nov. 2021, but construction costs have gone up by a range of 10% to 90% in the past four months, according to the City of Worcester.

City Manager Ed Augustus said the project is actually closer to nearly $30 million over budget, but the city has taken certain cost-saving measures, including removing rooftop solar panels and sports lighting from the project and reducing the number of landscape amenities.

“We took some components out of the project in order to get it down to just $23 million over with the hope that as the project continues, we can find other ways to fund those things,” Augustus said. 

Augustus said they will still wire the new building for solar power panels, but the city will need to wait to raise funds before they install the panels.

The new Doherty High includes a 421,000 square foot building, multi-use fields and other site improvements. The Massachusetts School Building Authority previously voted for a budget of more than $293.3 million and the City Council has approved three loan orders to fund the budget.