Finance Board Rejects Lump Sum Appropriation For HS

By John Voket

In a 5-1 vote April 26, the Board of Finance killed an 11th hour proposal by the school board to request a $41 million lump sum capital appropriation for the high school expansion project. The finance board vote will keep existing plans on track — breaking out design costs in the first year of spending, and two subsequent years of bonding to fund the construction phase of the expansion.

Finance board member Joseph Kearney was the dissenting vote. Mr Kearney sided with school officials and at least two Legislative Council members who said authorizing the full appropriation could potentially save taxpayers more than a half-million dollars.

That savings would be realized through a slightly higher reimbursement to the town if the entire school borrowing package is made in a single appropriation, and the reimbursement request is filed with the state before June 30, 2007. A fractional decrease in state reimbursement for the project would likely result because Newtown’s wealth rating increased slightly in the 2007-2008 fiscal cycle, the budget year in which the full appropriation would be approved by voters, and the first phase of construction spending would occur.

Finance board vice chairman James Gaston made the motion that carried. He told his fellow board members that while he is loathe to “gambling with $559,000,” was firmly inclined to stick with a plan that has been in place for the project for several months. John Torok, a finance board member who is the former school district business manager, seconded Mr Gaston’s motion.

During discussion, Mr Kearney said it wasn’t a conservative move to go with the original plan and suggested the full appropriation proposal should be put to the voters to decide.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, an ex-officio member of the board, said if Mr Gaston’s motion failed it would leave the Board of Selectmen in a position to authorize a town meeting on the full spending proposal.

Earlier in the meeting, Mr Kortze asked Mr Rosenthal how “comfortable” the first selectman would be calling for a town meeting on the full $41 million appropriation before June 30.

“Not very,” Mr Rosenthal replied curtly.

Discussion on the matter was initiated because the town finance director is required to produce a bonding resolution, a procedure that is typically endorsed by the advisory finance board before selectmen authorize the debt service and send the suggested appropriation to a town meeting. The finance board subsequently expressed growing concern about the lump sum appropriation after learning that two new proposals for the expansion had been revealed earlier in the week at a school board meeting.

One of those two new proposals incorporated a suggestion by the Public Building and Site Commission to consider breaking out the gymnasium expansion into a separate field house concept, so the facility might be utilized for other town functions without opening up the entire high school building to visitors.

If that initiative moves forward, a collateral benefit for school and recreational programs would be realized because the original gym would remain intact, thereby increasing the amount of space for sports and other activities.

School district business manager Ron Bienkowski said the satellite field house concept would prevent the short-term interruption of recreation and sports programs in the original gym, which would otherwise be closed for more than a year while renovations and a reconfiguration of the facility was occurring.

“The building and site commissioners were concerned about demolition [to the original gym that] would be going on while the [high school] was occupied,” Mr Bienkowski added.

School board member Tom Gissen, who attended the finance board meeting, explained that the total square footage of the final redesign would be based on the maximum reimbursement allowed by the state. School board vice chair Lisa Schwartz said in one of the new proposals, the budget exceeded the town’s maximum capital spending proposal because the separate gymnasium would push the total square footage beyond the maximum state reimbursement rate.

Finance board member Michael Portnoy asked if the building and site panel has the authority to dictate stipulations on the expansion to the school district. Mr Rosenthal said while the building and site commissioners can make suggestions, if the school district receives the lump sum allocation from the town, the board of education has the final authority to make other decisions on how that money will be spent on the project.

The latest proposal, dubbed “option G-2” incorporates a 90,00-square-foot expansion.

Mr Torok noted that the finance board currently only has an idea about what the final high school expansion will look like upon completion.

“My concern is we are looking for $38 million that might not be $38 million,” Mr Torok said. “We don’t really have a design. We have an idea; we have a lot of good intentions from a board of education whose job it is to advocate for the kids.”

He asked why the finance board was being asked to approve a preliminary number if the final project may not be close to the approved number. Mr Torok said it was premature — even when considering reimbursement rates compared to a $100 million operating budget for the town — to move forward with a fixed lump sum appropriation already in place.

“As much as I want to be cost-effective, I have a serious concern that this could cost the town money,” Mr Torok said. “Until we know what we are really dealing with…we hope we are in the ballpark. Until they have the design done, we only have an idea.

“I would rather risk the differential and have a definitive design,” he concluded. “Then let’s talk about what we want to do with numbers.”