Parker wants more school capital spending

By Calvin Hennick
Globe Correspondent

Alderman and mayoral candidate Ken Parker sent a letter, signed by more than a dozen other elected officials and political candidates, to Mayor David Cohen Monday requesting that Cohen allow the schools to borrow additional money for capital improvements.

But the mayor’s office dismissed the missive as a political gesture.

“We’ve reviewed the letter, and frankly we consider that more of a campaign communication than a well-thought-out policy proposal,” said Jeremy Solomon, the mayor’s spokesman.

Parker shot back, “It is campaign-related to the extent that if they fail to address the infrastructure needs of the city, the next administration will have to deal with it.”

Parker, along with Alderman Paul Coletti, State Representative Ruth Balser, and former John Kerry aide Setti Warren, are running in the fall to replace Cohen, who is not seeking re-election.

In the letter, Parker asked the mayor to consider letting the schools borrow an additional $1.2 million for capital improvements. He said the additional money would allow the schools to make needed improvements and also pay for four modular classrooms to alleviate overcrowding at the Oak Hill Middle School. The improvements would include replacement of boilers, windows, doors, and roofs at several schools, new auditorium seating at Day Middle School and an accessible elevator for Countryside Elementary School.

Currently, the schools are authorized to bond just the $1.75 million. Without more borrowing, the School Committee will have to decide whether to cut the modular units or to delay most of the other improvements.

Parker said the additional borrowing could be funded through the energy savings that will result from improvements like new doors and windows.

“From the energy savings, we can pay back the bonds without negatively impacting the operating budget one iota,” Parker said.

But Solomon said an energy savings firm is studying the energy efficiency of school and city buildings and that the city should base its decisions on the results of that study.

“In time they’ll be able to provide invaluable information and guidelines for how we ought to improve the efficiencies of our public buildings,” Solomon said. “It’s far from a back-of-the-envelope analysis.”

Parker said school officials have already concluded that the improvements would save money and that it would be a mistake to wait on them. He also pointed to the April report of the influential Citizen Advisory Group, which recommended spending more money to maintain the city’s infrastructure.

“Basically what we’re saying is that we’re going to waste energy and let our buildings continue to deteriorate,” Parker said.

Solomon said that, if the Board of Aldermen approves Cohen’s plan to increase taxes on hotel rooms and restaurant meals, the schools will receive an extra $200,000 that they could use to bond the modular classrooms and leave the rest of the capital budget in tact.

School Committee chairman Marc Laredo, who did not sign Parker’s letter, said he wants both the modular classrooms and the other improvements to be funded.

“Absolutely, we want to be able to do both,” Laredo said. “I’m always in favor of putting more money into cap improvements and our school buildings. Under our system of government, it’s our mayor who makes decisions about what we can afford.”

Parker’s letter was signed by Aldermen Amy Sangiolo, Verne Vance, Greer Swiston, Vicki Danberg, and George Mansfield, as well as School Committee member Geoff Epstein. School Committee candidates Margaret Albright, Dan Proskauer, Olivia Mathews, and Tom White also signed the letter, as did Board of Alderman candidates Charlie Shapiro, Anil Adyanthaya and Jeff Seideman.