In other news, construction company West Bay Construction was approved to renovate the school’s well.
Talk of the upcoming bond referendum dominated the conversation between Shamong’s board of education and residents at last week’s meeting. The bond referendum is scheduled for Sept. 26.
The district’s business administrator, Laura Archer, stressed with low interest rates and a large chunk of debt scheduled to fall off in the 2017–2018 school year, the 2018–2019 year would be ideal to pencil in the bond referendum. If the bond referendum passes, the state would contribute up to 40 percent of the costs. However, Archer said at the meeting she expects to receive closer to 33 percent of the bond’s funds from the state, accounting for more than $2 million of the $4.9 million referendum.
Because the school district plans to pay off such a large amount of its debt this upcoming school year — close to $700,000 of its $830,000 debt — taxes would still be considerably lower if the referendum passes, officials said. The average taxpayer pays $385.62 in annual taxes on the school’s debt. If the referendum fails, that number would decrease to $64.44. If the referendum passes, debt service taxes would still decrease — albeit not quite as much — to $212.11.
Many residents and parents criticized the plan. Their chief concern was the importance of air conditioning or lack thereof. Many noted they didn’t have air conditioning when they attended school.
In a previous interview with The Sun, Archer said if the referendum doesn’t pass, the projects still “would be completed without state aid over a number of years.”
As a result, the wish many residents have — that the district doesn’t invest money into its HVAC unit — isn’t on the table. The district would still fix the HVAC unit without the bond. The only difference is it would be completed without state aid, costing taxpayers even more money now that the state wouldn’t be chipping in, officials said.
Superintendent Christine Vespe maintained proper HVAC was necessary for safety and health reasons.
The district will hold two informational meetings on the bond referendum. The first will be Aug. 23 at 9 a.m. and the second will be Aug 24. At 6 p.m.
In other news:
• Because the district’s initial bond referendum failed in March, which contained money for the renovation of the school’s well, the district placed money for the well in this year’s budget. A bid from West Bay Construction was approved to build the well for $445,000. The well was originally expected to cost only $280,000. Only one other company placed a bid. West Bay’s bid was the lowest.
• The following lunch prices were approved for the upcoming school year: $2.85 for a lunch, $3 for a premium meal, 55 cents for a milk and $4 for an adult lunch.
