$13 Million Bond Proposed for Construction of New School

Dateline: Jan. 8, 2021

On January 6th, the School Board announced a public hearing at the ARD Gym on School St. for Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 6:00 P.M. at which they will discuss:

"a proposed bond issue in the amount of up to $12,999,824 for the construction of a new school."

Back in October 2020, the school board presented the situation with the two schools based on a consultant's recommendations. It might be called "30 people and $30 million" because only 30 people attended and $30 million dollars was the average price tag.

Attendees learned that:

• Sending ARD kids to Pembroke's Three Rivers School was deemed of no benefit because of tuition costs and the fact that there will not enough future capacity for them to stay there very long.
• Renovating ARD was dismissed as having too many problems to warrant the expense.
• To renovate AES for grades K-8 would cost an estimated $27.8 million.
• To build a new K-8 school somewhere in town had an estimated cost of $33.8 million.
• An application was submitted in July to the NH Dept. of Education (DOE) for a construction grant of 60% of the construction costs.
• A building design needed to be submitted to the DOE in December.

At the January 14 hearing we hope to find out what are the final results to be put before the voters. If $13 million is our net cost and this is after the 60% DOE grant, then the gross cost would be $21,666,666, a lot lower than the original $33.8 million estimate.

The public announcement offered no details and the hard to navigate school board web site did not seem to have any useful details about this, so you need to attend this hearing. Bring your masks and hand sanitizer. Don't be timid. It's your money they want to spend.

Several questions should have been answered publicly already, and they will be posed at the hearing.

1. How much of a negative impact will this bond have on the town's efforts to encourage economic development?
2. What kind of school is being proposed, K-8 or less?
3. Given the ongoing negative effects of the virus pandemic on schools, is there a downward trend for public school enrollment that should caution us to postpone new construction?
4. What is the final proposed cost and what caused it to change from the original estimate of $33.8 million?
5. Does the cost include the needed land or is that an extra cost?
6. Where is it to be built and how long will that take?
7. If approved by the voters, what will be the origination date for the bond and the interest rate?
8. How long will we be stuck with this bond? 20 or 30 years?
9. What will be the annual cost of the bond and how much will that raise the school tax rate?
10. What cost cutting measures will the board take to offset the cost of the bond?

What You Can Do

Attend the January 14 hearing and ask a lot of questions.