North towns figure how to pay for school projects
A roundup of budget happenings in the towns north of Boston, just as furnaces are being turned on across the region:
- In Danvers, the Finance Committee Monday, Nov. 9 will hold a public hearing on the single article that will appear on the warrant of the Nov. 16 Special Town Meeting.
The article seeks an appropriation of nearly $80 million for the renovation and expansion of the high school. The state’s School Building Authority has committed to covering about $42 million of the project costs, so the town’s overall share would be close to $38 million.
The town plans to cover that cost without a tax increase by tapping an existing fund it maintains to help repay school project debt.
The Finance Committee meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Holten-Richmond Middle School. The Nov. 16 Special Town Meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Holten-Richmond.
- Wenham has scheduled a Special Town Meeting for Nov. 12 to consider whether to support a $1.5 million project to replace the 57-year-old heating system at the Cutler School in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District with a new computerized energy management system designed for greater efficiency.
The project will require a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion override. If it gains a two-thirds majority at Wenham's Special Town Meeting, residents in both Hamilton (which already approved the project at its Special Town Meeting last month) and Wenham will hold special elections.
The state has promised to reimburse 42.58 percent of the building costs.
- Swampscott voters also are facing an override, though the price tag for the proposed new police station was downsized by $1 milllion to $6.5 million this week. The recommended size of the new station also was cut from 15,000 to 13,000 square feet by the Police Station Building Committee.
The town has scheduled a Special Town Meeting on Nov. 16 to vote on the project, which will require a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion followed by townwide approval at a special election. The station would be built at a site on Humphrey Street.
- In Andover, Town Manager Reginald S. Stapczynski presented his five-year capital improvement recommendations and needs through fiscal year 2015 to the Board of Selectmen as required by the town’s bylaws.
For the current fiscal year, Stapczynski is recommending capital improvement projects to the tune of just under $7.7 million, which he described as being ‘‘the lowest in recent years.’’ Pointing to the economic recession and ‘‘limited prospects for revenue growth,’’ Stapczynski stated that developing this year’s capital improvement program would pose a unique challenge.
The dollar amount does not include funding for the Bancroft Elementary School, town yard, and Ballardvale fire station construction projects, currently in the planning stages. Funding these would require a debt exclusion override vote, according to the report.
A public hearing on the Capital Improvement Program recommendations is scheduled for the Nov. 16 Board of Selectmen’s meeting. Stapczynski’s report can be found on www.andoverma.gov.
- Lynnfield, anticipating lower state aid, and even with level funding in all but non-discretionary areas such as pension or health insurance contributions, is likely facing a $500,000 budget deficit in fiscal year 2011, according to Town Administrator Bill Gustus.
Gustus presented his preliminary report on the FY 2011 budget at a recent Board of Selectmen meeting.
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