Reminder: BBSD bond vote coming on Oct. 22
October 17, 2024 at 12:21 a.m.
For the last two months, Blind Brook Board of Education members have made it a point to remind their constituents of the upcoming bond vote.
“We’ll probably say it three times during this meeting,” Board President Jeffrey Mensch said during the gathering on Oct. 8. “On Tuesday, Oct. 22, we have our bond vote.”
The referendum will feature just one item on the ballot: An $18.3 million bond to fund various capital improvements across the district.
The referendum comes following the emergency shuttering of the district’s two sports fields at the Middle/High School campus in March, after they both failed impact safety tests. It left the district scrambling for a plan to replace the playing areas.
The multipurpose field, used for football, soccer and lacrosse, was replaced by dipping into district reserves. Construction was completed prior to the start of the 2024-25 school year, ensuring athletes were able to use it in time for the fall season.
The school board elected to attempt to fund the baseball field using a bond, but the scope of the project grew following an analysis of their progress on their 5-year facilities plan and a tour of the buildings in May.
It led to a summer of discussion among the board members, wherein trustees posed the question to their fellow residents: How much money are they willing to invest into the district to avoid more emergency failures?
At their Aug. 28 meeting, the board adopted the bond proposal, ultimately leaving its fate to voters.
If approved, the funds would be used to upgrade or replace the following:
*Track and baseball field
*MS/HS bathrooms
*MS/HS HVAC systems
*MS/HS electric service equipment
*HS elevator
*MS roof
*RSS field drainage
*Auditorium systems
It would also be used for reconfiguring and renovation of classrooms.
It’s a list of critical items from the district’s 5-year facilities plan with an associated cost of $19.5 million, but that price tag is offset by using $1.15 million of the Capital Reserve Fund.
The facilities plan, which was drafted in 2021, catalogued the district’s capital needs prioritized by what’s most likely to fail.
“We don’t want to go through another situation where something just stops working here,” Mensch said at the Aug. 28 meeting. “We as a community look stupid for having a school that doesn’t have proper HVAC, doesn’t have an elevator that works and has bathroom issues.”
Though the board hopes to address the most crucial parts of the buildings first, there is hope the bond funds will allow for the opportunity to upgrade and fix less-critical parts of the plan.
Mensch has expressed optimism that the construction projects would come in under budget, as the multi-purpose field did once it was completed in August.
Should that be the case, the district hopes to use any leftover monies for other issues. They include:
*Accessories for the field
*Bleachers and/or dividers for all gyms
*Office/conference room construction
*Soundproofing of HS Commons
*MS locker bay conversion
*Additional classroom renovations
*Security needs
According to Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Facilities Laurie Baum, the debt incurred by the bond would imply an increase of $163 annually for the average taxpayer with a home valued at $1 million.
That prediction does not consider other budget-to-budget tax levy increases associated with the year-to-year operation of the district.
The vote will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at the Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street Elementary School from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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