Date: Fri 14-Jun-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

schools-projects-referendum

Full Text:

Vote On School Projects Set June 19

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

A referendum has been set for Wednesday, June 19, to decide the fate of the

$29 million high school and Hawley School expansion projects.

More than enough signatures were gathered in a petition drive last weekend to

force a machine vote on the projects, which had been approved at a town

meeting on June 3. The town clerk's office stopped checking signatures after

verifying 655 names for a referendum on the high school proposal and 660 names

for a referendum on the Hawley School project. The projects will be listed

separately on the same ballot.

After the signatures were verified, the Board of Selectmen held a special

meeting to schedule the referendum for next week. Voting will take place from

6 am to 8 pm at the Newtown Middle School on Queen Street. Absentee ballots

will be available at the town clerk's office on weekdays through Tuesday from

8 am to 4:30 pm and on Saturday from 9 am to noon. Registered voters and

persons who own property assessed at $1,000 or more on the town's grand list

are eligible to vote in the referendum.

The questions on the ballot will be the same as those approved at the town

meeting: To appropriate $24,922,000 for the high school project, and

$4,183,000 for Hawley School, although it isn't known yet exactly how much the

elementary school project will cost.

The Hawley School project was rebid because the lowest bid was $150,000 more

than the $4,183,000 estimate. The new round of bidding ended Tuesday but John

Torek, the school district's business manager, said the bids still are being

evaluated by the architects. Besides the base bid, there are seven alternates

that have to be compared and evaluated, he said.

"The bids look a little lower but there wasn't a substantial drop," he said.

"We put them out there again hoping the bidders would really sharpen their

pencils, but that didn't happen."

The Petition Drive

The petition drive was organized by David Ruscoe of Steck Drive. He needed to

collect 579 signatures on separate petitions for each project but wound up

with more than 1,000 signatures on each petition.

"There was an overwhelming response," he said. "Everyone who signed had

different motivations, but nearly everyone said the proposals should have gone

to a referendum instead of a town meeting."

"Four hundred fifty voters (at the town meeting) shouldn't decide on $30

million in spending for the town," he said. "We weren't collecting signatures

to decide the issue of the projects themselves. Our reason for petitioning was

to bring it to a referendum to give everyone a chance to vote."

Mr Ruscoe said he and his wife, Susan, along with Ellie Gosselin, Mike Daley,

Paul Hauck, and Bob Bossuet took shifts outside the Grand Union to collect

signatures, while Sam Nezvesky collected signatures at the landfill.

"People from all age groups signed the petitions," he said. "There were a lot

of senior citizens but there also were young people. Many people who have

children in school are ambivalent about the projects because (the projects)

are a lot of money."

Many town officials who supported the school projects also said they felt that

a proposed spending package of this size should be decided by machine vote.

"It's the right thing to do," said Legislative Council President Joseph

Mahoney. "It's important that everyone gets the opportunity to vote - I've

felt that way from the beginning."

First Selectman Bob Cascella said the petition drive underscores the need for

the Charter Revision Commission to change the way the town approves large

spending projects.

"What's been happening this year with the library vote, the budget and the

school projects clearly shows that the Charter Revision Commission has to take

a good hard look at our budget process," he said.

"The whole system of town meetings is archaic and appears not to be working

now. Why should a project of this size - almost two-thirds the size of the

town's annual budget - have to be petitioned to a referendum?"

The Projects

Board of Education Chairman Herb Rosenthal said he believes the projects will

be approved in next week's referendum.

"We have a lot of hard work ahead to get out the school supporters for the

referendum," he said. "It's always harder to get supporters out than

opponents, and there area always 1,200 to 2,000 negative votes. I think the

projects are an absolute necessity, however, and I believe they will be

approved."

The high school project includes the construction of a new 74,000-square-foot

wing, renovations to existing sections of the building, a new roof over part

of the school, and updates to the building's heating, plumbing, air

conditioning and electrical systems. The library/media center, currently

smaller than many elementary school libraries, will nearly triple in size,

sports facilities will be upgraded and parking will be increased to provide

space for more cars and improved traffic flow.

Among those who have voiced opposition to the high school project, Attorney

Robert Hall said the current enrollment of 1,080 is significantly lower than

the 1,402 students enrolled in 1978. The projected growth to 1,588 students in

10 years isn't much more than the 1978 peak, he said.

But school expansion supporters say that many of the original classrooms now

must be used for special education, for computer labs and for special services

such as speech therapy. The school is crowded even with its current

enrollment, they insist.

The proposed 22,000-square foot expansion of Hawley School will enlarge the

school by half to accommodate another 150 students and alleviate the need for

a fifth elementary school, according to Dr John Reed, superintendent of

schools.

Most of both projects qualify for 40 percent reimbursement from the state.

According to Town Finance Director Benjamin Spragg the impact of the high

school project will be just under 1 mill (actually .97 mill) on next year's

tax rate. For a property assessed at $100,000, the increase would amount to

$97 next year. The Hawley School project amounts to .18 mill, or $18 next year

for a $100,000 assessment.

If both projects are approved, the combined impact on the tax rate will be

1.15 mills in 1997, rising to 1.38 mills in 1998, and decreasing steadily

afterwards over the 20-year life of the bonds.

The town already has spent more than $1.5 million on architects' fees, testing

and other expenses related to the projects.