EASTHAMPTON — Now that voters have signed off on funding a new $109 million consolidated school, plans will head to the state for final approval later this summer.
As of Wednesday evening, City Clerk Barbara LaBombard said there was only one provisional ballot left from Tuesday’s election to be counted pending confirmation with the Registry of Motor Vehicles, leaving the vote tally at 2,831 “yes” to 2,102 “no.” The city saw a 42 percent turnout for the special election, LaBombard said.
According to architects and project managers from Colliers International, of Toronto, and Caolo & Bieniek Associates, of Chicopee, the feasibility study for the proposed school must be approved by the Massachusetts School Building Authority before moving into the final phase of design and bidding for construction. The MSBA is scheduled to meet on Aug. 29 to vote on the final project funding agreement.
The city expects to pay approximately $60 million of the project’s cost, with the remaining financed by the state.
Construction on the school is planned to begin mid-2019 with the goal of opening the school to students in the fall of 2021.
Once the new building is complete, project manager Mel Overmoyer said the existing White Brook Middle School will be torn down during the last half of 2021 to complete parking lots for the new consolidated school.
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said at a May 1 public forum that the city will talk with borrowing agencies in August and that the exact bond rates and repayment schedules will be determined by the specific construction plans and market rates at the time of construction. Financial advisors and auditors are working to look at the flow of Easthampton’s debt structure, she said, in order to find ways to keep the city’s AA+ bond rating.
She said the city might consider a smaller bond first to pay for materials and then take out a larger bond for interior work on classrooms. Taxpayers will feel the impact as the city draws money for the project, according to LaChapelle.
“For the first disbursement of money, to say, buy the steel, we’d see the effect on the tax rate the following year,” she said.
If construction begins according to the anticipated timeline, Easthampton residents will start to see their taxes affected in 2020.
The project’s estimated tax impact is $2.98 to $3.84 per $1,000 of assessed value, or an extra $680 to $877 annually for the average homeowner.
Last week, the City Council eased the tax burden for low-income, senior homeowners by increasing an annual rebate from $700 to $1,000 for those who qualify, and lowering the age threshold from 70 to 65.
There is also a resolution before the City Council’s Rules and Government Relations Committee directing the city to set aside 50 percent of the revenue received from the recreational marijuana sales tax for a fund that would provide additional tax relief for seniors 65 and older.
The School Building Committee has designated $109 million as the maximum project cost, and said that the project will not exceed that price, “under any circumstances.”
The project budget contains “substantial contingency funds” to cover any expenses that cannot be planned for during construction, according to the committee.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.