Please consider asking our town committees to fund schools roofs without a tax override

It is disappointing to see the Select Board / School Committee ask us for a tax override to pay for school roofs when there is plenty of money saved up and plenty of room in the levy to pay for these essential repairs. There is still time for them to change their minds and to propose paying for these items in a more responsible manner that reflects the values of this community.

At the Special Town Meeting this coming Monday, December 1 (yes, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday!), a “motion” needs to be made to ask for approval for this spending. If the motion is made as I’m suggesting below, then we can pay for the roofs at Haynes and Nixon Elementary schools WITHOUT A TAX OVERRIDE.

My proposal is to take money from funds (Capital Stabilization, Excess Overlay) which we have been saving for the past several years for big capital purchases. School roofs seem to me like a perfect project. The balance of the cost can be covered by an “in-levy debt.” This is a loan that is paid for by our tax levy (not an override). The Fire Station expansion and the Wastewater Study were both funded in part by in-levy debt.

If you are in favor of paying for the school roofs in this manner, please email the select board (selectboard@sudbury.ma.us), finance committee (fincom@sudbury.ma.us), and Sudbury School Committee (school-committee@sudbury.k12.ma.us) and ask them to make the motion for these articles as suggested below.

Proposed Motion for Article 1
Move that the Town appropriate the sum of $7,821,563 to be expended under the direction of the Sudbury School Committee, for the replacement and repair of the Josiah Haynes Elementary School roof system located at 169 Haynes Road, Sudbury, MA 01776, including the payment of all costs incidental or related thereto, which proposed repair project would materially extend the useful life of the school and preserve an asset that otherwise is capable of supporting the required educational program and for which the Town has applied for a school construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority ("MSBA"); and that to meet this appropriation, $3,483,235 be appropriated from Free Cash, $500,000 be transferred from the Excess Overlay Fund, $500,000 be transferred from the Capital Stabilization Fund, and the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, be authorized to borrow $3,338,328 under and pursuant to G.L. c. 44, §§7 or 8, or any other enabling authority, and to issue bonds or notes of the Town therefor; and, further, that any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes, may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with G.L. c. 44, §20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount.

Note: The Free Cash appropriation of $3,483,235 includes the amount that we will be reimbursed by MSBA. The “actual” Free Cash spent will be $500,000. The other $2,983,235 will be reimbursed by MSBA within approximately 15 days of us spending it.

Proposed Motion for Article 2
Move that the Town appropriate the sum of $4,064,845 to be expended under the direction of the Sudbury School Committee, for the replacement and repair of the General John Nixon Elementary School roof system located at 472 Concord Road, Sudbury, MA 01776, including the payment of all costs incidental or related thereto, which proposed repair project would materially extend the useful life of the school and preserve an asset that otherwise is capable of supporting the required educational program and for which the Town has applied for a school construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority ("MSBA"); and that to meet this appropriation, $2,096,082 be appropriated from Free Cash, $500,000 be transferred from the Excess Overlay Fund, $500,000 be transferred from the Capital Stabilization Fund, and the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Selectmen, be authorized to borrow $968,763 under and pursuant to G.L. c. 44, §§7 or 8, or any other enabling authority, and to issue bonds or notes of the Town therefor; and, further, that any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes, may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with G.L. c. 44, §20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount.

Note: The Free Cash appropriation of $2,096,082 includes the amount that we will be reimbursed by MSBA. The “actual” Free Cash spent will be $500,000. The other $1,596,082 will be reimbursed by MSBA within approximately 15 days of us spending it.