Bob Maccini doesn’t like to think of a new petition about Concord’s middle school project as an ultimatum, even if it is one.

Bring the cost of a new middle school down, the petition communicates to Concord’s school board, or we will do it for you.

“I don’t like to think in those kinds of terms,” Maccini said, “But I think that’s what a lot of people are kind of saying. We just cannot afford this kind of building.”

The new petition argues that the school board should be stripped of its ability to set the budget for school construction or renovation projects, and that voters should have the final say. If the board could put forward a “reasonable” total, Maccini said, the petition wouldn’t be necessary.

The building in question is a new middle school on South Street. If the board proceeds with the plan adapted from the school designed a year ago, it could carry around a $164 million price tag, perhaps more due to rising construction costs and tariffs. Especially as the chance of any help from the state fades, several board members have indicated that they couldn’t abide that total and plan to make cuts —if they move forward this year at all. But Maccini and a group of residents he helps lead, the Concord Concerned citizens, don’t trust that they’ll bring it down far enough.

“It’s one thing to say you’re concerned about the price,” he said. “It’s another thing to actually come in with a reasonable number.”

The confrontational approach is one of exasperation. With what they see as a deluge of upcoming city and school projects with six, seven, and eight-figure price tags, the Concerned Citizens group has sought to claw back a sense of control from local leaders, particularly on the school side.

Last year, the group succeeded with a different ultimatum about the school. Through petitions and widely successful ballot measures, the school board felt it had no choice but to acquiesce to demands to “rebuild at Rundlett.” That push last year started with an online petition and resulted in two amendments to the district charter. Now, the Concerned Citizens have focused on the proposed cost, which could wind up being the most expensive school ever built in the state.

School board members have expressed frustration with what they see as the group “moving the goalposts” on the debate over this project.

Before changing the school location in January, the board broadcasted that doing so would be $8 million more expensive than sticking with their existing plan, and $12 million more than if the charter amendments had never passed at all.

When it came down to it, people affiliated with the Concerned Citizens said they saw the cost difference as “a non-issue” and told the board that it was “preferable to spend more on a good decision than less money to perpetuate a bad one.”

That doesn’t mean they want the board to pursue the full $164 million cost.

The $164 million price tag is a preliminary estimate from HMFH, the architecture firm hired for this project, and a more detailed new design and cost estimate are expected in the next few months. The firm’s fees have already influenced the bottom line as the school board recently agreed to pay HMFH an additional $3 million to design a school at the Rundlett site, bringing their total contract to $13.3 million.

Once the new design is complete, the board could whittle down the features of the building to lower expenses and set a new budget in August, according to a district timeline.

It’s the same process the district followed last year when it lowered a $176 million preliminary estimate down to $152 million — but that was for a school at Broken Ground. It was before building aid from the state was all but nixed, and before the board acquiesced to moving the project back to South Street.

The Concerned Citizens found that reduction, a less than 14% drop, to be a disappointing outcome.

Jeff Wells, another organizer of the group, said he believes the board would approve the $164 million number today if a vote was held. He wants to see signals that they’re serious about bringing it down and that they really listen when people say they can’t absorb it.

Maccini argued that the board should set a cost ceiling now and design to that number, giving residents some stability in an aspect of the project that has fluctuated over time. It’s an approach some members of the school board’s building committee have advocated, too.

“It would be good if they did come in with a number and stuck to it,” Maccini said, though he acknowledged that what constitutes a “reasonable” total would be in the eye of the beholder.

It’s not clear whether another amendment to the school district charter would even apply to this project if the board sets a budget for it over the summer. Many of those who opposed the amendments last year agreed with their end goal about the project’s location but feared the delays and cost increases that they have brought about.

Maccini said even if the petition doesn’t move forward towards a charter amendment, it makes clear to the school board that residents in Concord care deeply about costs.

“We’re worried about peo ple making ends meet,” he said. “$164 million is  just crazy.”

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can subscribe to her Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.