A full plate for residents

“We understand that times are difficult,’’ said Selectman Jim Lehan, the board’s chairman. “Some of my own friends are unemployed. But our role is to bring the best financial considerations we can. And both of these buildings are critical components of our infrastructure.’’

Residents taking part in Tuesday’s Special Town Meeting will be asked to approve a $37 million project to replace the Freeman-Centennial School, and a new public safety building with a price tag of $10 million. The warrant also has an article seeking $200,000 for work on the town’s roads.

If the measures pass, a townwide election on Dec. 8 will ask voters to override Proposition 2 1/2’s limits on property tax increases to pay for them.

Town officials are working out a financing strategy, but the tax increases would be spread out over 20 years while the construction loans are repaid, with the bill for property owners going down each year. Officials have estimated that the highest increase, in the first year, would be between $654 and $805 on the tax bill for a $350,000 house, the average assessment in town.

Parents of schoolchildren and other residents have been mounting vigorous campaigns in favor of the projects. But others - especially those on fixed incomes - are wary of taking on a higher tax burden. And some question spending so much money on the buildings.

Officials said they know that such major efforts are a hard sell when the economy is barely emerging from the worst recession since the 1930s, and unemployment figures are still rising.

However, they say, the badly needed projects will benefit from a weak construction market that could mean as much as an 18 percent savings on costs and from interest rates that are at historic lows.

The town’s Advisory Committee has recommended yes votes on all three proposals. Norfolk has paid $500,000 for a school feasibility study and another $500,000 for land for the new public safety building, according to an Oct. 24 letter to residents.

There has been talk for years about replacing the deteriorating, 60-year-old Freeman-Centennial School, and the Massachusetts School Building Authority recently agreed to reimburse 53 percent of costs of a new school for the town’s third- through sixth-graders. That sort of deal won’t come around again, School Committee chairwoman Beth Gilbert said.

“People need to see this as a long-term benefit,’’ she said. “If we don’t get it this time, we’re done.’’

The school has inadequate handicap access, space, and equipment; no upgrades for fire, safety, and building codes; no sprinklers or appropriate fire exits; and flammable ceilings; and it is not energy-efficient, according to override supporters.

“I love that school but as a parent, I was shocked to walk into it,’’ said Linda Melanson, the mother of three Norfolk students and an organizer of ACT NOW, a group working to win approval for the project. “We won’t be able to attract good teachers to a falling-down building where they are worried about what they breathe,’’ she said.

This is the first time residents are considering the school project. But the proposed public safety building was rejected at last year’s Town Meeting. Since then, the plan has been downsized to $10 million, Lehan said. He said the town’s police and fire personnel work in cramped, leaky, and substandard conditions, with on-duty firefighters sleeping in a trailer behind the existing building. There are inadequate toilet facilities, no facilities for women, one holding cell for police suspects, and little space for apparatus, he said.

Officials are aware that three capital expenses on the same Town Meeting warrant may split the vote and endanger one or all of the questions, but there’s nothing to be done but get out the word, Lehan said. “I just want people to make whatever decision they do based on the facts.’’

Town Administrator Jack Hathaway said officials are focused on the appropriate financing strategy for the school and public safety building.

They have discussed whether to borrow the funds as quickly as possible, locking in a current rate but accelerating the tax increase for residents.

Or they could borrow the funds on a short-term basis, paying only the interest or rolling the interest and principal into permanent bonds that they would obtain following construction. It would lessen the immediate increase, but the town could end up paying more in interest over the life of the loans.

“We have settled on a strategy that blends the two alternatives,’’ he said. “We are planning to go to market for approximately half of the construction cost as quickly as possible, then lock in remaining funds closer to the conclusion of the construction.’’

Residents offered a range of opinions on the proposals.

At 86, Richard Morris could be worried about tax increases, but the retired Episcopal priest said he isn’t concerned about a few hundred dollars a year if it means shoring up the town’s infrastructure.

“I’ll probably vote for all three. I’m more concerned that the property values stay up because we’ll want to sell our house in a few years,’’ he said.

Others on fixed incomes or suffering job losses may not be so supportive.

“I know a lot of people are hurting and not just the seniors,’’ said the Council on Aging’s executive director, Norma Shruhan. “I think the articles will all get on the ballot, but from there, I have no idea one way or the other which way they’ll go.’’

Mike Taurasi, a close observer of Town Meeting activities, says he’s opposed to more taxes and thinks there are less expensive ways of dealing with the need for a better school and a better public safety building.

“They use words like ‘deep thought’ and ‘making an investment’ when they talk about supporting these articles,’’ he said. “But whose thought is it? It’s their thoughts and their wants.’’

Taurasi agrees the town needs a new firehouse but “not a full $10 million’’ one. He said a facility could be built for millions less, and then the current building could be renovated for police.

“They complain about a leaky roof, but you can fix that,’’ he said. “I agree with their arguments but the solution isn’t because you want another holding cell to build a whole new building.’’

Times are tough, Taurasi said, but it’s not just these times that are wrong for such spending.

“It’s excessive. At least wait until the crisis is over and then come and ask us for money.’’

Special Town Meeting convenes at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the King Philip Regional Middle School, 18 King St. Child care is offered in the cafeteria from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. for $5.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@ verizon.net.