Concord School District Public Hearing On New Quarter Of A Billion Dollar Middle School Slated For Jan. 5

CONCORD, NH — Happy New Year, Concord School District property taxpayers and renters.

The SAU 8 board of education has scheduled a public hearing to consider the appropriation and authorization of the issuance of bonds and notes of $168,777,480 — an increase from the previously agreed-upon final price tag of $156 million the district agreed to months ago — for the replacement and reconstruction of Rundlett Middle School. The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2026, in the board room at 38 Libert St. The district posted a public notice earlier this week.

At the time of publication, no specific financial schedule or information about the school’s debt had been released. No press release had been issued about the public hearing. And no explanation was given as to why an extra $12 million-plus was added to the previously approved maximum spending amount.

Across several weeks, Patch met and communicated by email with Jack Dunn, the business administrator for SAU 8; Terry Wolfe, the district’s public information officer; and Matt Cashman, its facilities manager, seeking precise financial numbers (or even estimates) from the district about the bonding costs, which, when including interest, was in the $220 million to $280 million range. Part of those requests was an explanation of how previously published information, like the new middle school would “only cost” property taxpayers 53 to 69 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, was incomplete, since it only accounts for a fraction of the cost of the principal and debt service of the new school.

After one meeting and three emails during late October and mid-November, no explanations were confirmed. Concord School Superintendent Timothy Herbert was also CC’d on many of these emails, seeking clarification on some financial details, including estimated costs.

Also Read

• Concord Board Of Education Approves New Rundlett Middle School Proposal By 8-1 Vote
• Acting-Concord School Superintendent Says Community Should Attend New Middle School Project Public Hearing
• SAU 8 Concord School Board Holds Yet Another Middle School Hearing
• Concord School Board To Discuss New Middle School Project ‘Community Votes’ Wednesday
• School Charter Reform Questions Hearing Shows Deep Divide In The Concord Community
• Anti-East Concord Middle School Petitioners Secure Ballot Access For 2 Charter Amendments
• Opponents Of East Concord Middle School Location File 1,500 Initiative Petition Signatures
• Mayor: No-Go To City Council Middle School Project Public Hearing
• Washburn: Council Ducks Critical Local Issue
• Concord School Board Member Seeks Input On New Middle School Gym Space, Other Features
• Washburn: Is There A New Performing Arts Center In Your Future?
• New Concord Middle School Design ‘Community Q&A’ Meetings Booked
• Anti-East Concord Middle School Group Seeks To Add Voter Provisions To SAU 8 Charter
• Activists Call For Rescinding 2023 New Concord Middle School Vote
• Concord Resident: Price Tag Of New Middle School Is ‘Appalling’; Makes Me ‘Physically Sick’
• Walsh Elected New Concord School District Board Of Education President
• Concord School District Hosts Middle School Siting Hearing Wednesday
• Concord School District Hosts 2 Meetings Concerning New Middle School
• Concord Residents, Others Eye Design, Equity Of A New Middle School
• Concord's Rundlett Middle School 4th On NH School Building Aid List
• New Concord Middle School Costs? Around $176 Million, SAU 8 Docs Say
• CenterPoint Church Says No To Concord School District Land Sale
• Land Sale Negotiations For New Concord Middle School Reach An Impasse
• A Lot Of Unknowns With New Concord Middle School Project
• Concord's Middle School Could Be Sold After New Facility Built
• Concord School District To Buy Land For New Middle School
• Navigating The Sordid Past Of Concord's School District Charter

Disappointingly, emails went unanswered and nothing was revealed.

Price Tag Vs. Cost

As stated in previous articles, there is a difference between the “price tag” of a building and its “cost,” not unlike a big-ticket personal item like a home or vehicle.

The previously agreed-upon price tag was $156 million. The price tag, for an unknown reason, has now increased to just shy of $169 million, according to the public hearing notice, which throws all the original math off.

The cost of the building includes the interest paid on the price tag, which, for whatever reason, board members, staff, and cheerleaders of the project, some of whom do not even live in Concord, fail and refuse to acknowledge.

During the meeting with officials in late October, Dunn was asked about cost versus price tag and directly asked if the project would actually cost somewhere in the quarter-of-a-billion-dollar-or-more range, and he said, Sure, if you count the interest.

And again, to revisit the not-too-distant past, during the elementary school consolidation project, the newspaper, school board members, and staff consistently presented inaccurate financial data to the public about the project’s cost, saying it would cost only between $28 million and $56 million. The cost was finally revealed to be $90.8 million in 2012.

The public was also repeatedly told before the elementary school project started that there would be no new middle school project until the consolidation bond was paid off, which does not occur until 2041.

Back Of The Envelope Finances

With the new, revised price tag for the school, at least some estimates can be put together, revealing how wildly inaccurate (or “propaganda”) the “only cost” middle school 53 to 69 cents per thousand numbers that were bandied about in late October were.

Here are some givens and presumptions to consider when trying to figure out what you will actually pay for a new middle school:

• RMS “price tag”: $169 million.
• SAU 8 property valuation (taxable assessed value) per the NH DOE: $4.8 billion.
• Presumed debt rate: 4%
• Elementary school consolidation project note expiration: 2041, about $3 million annually, or $45 million halfway through new RMS note.
• District reserves: $20 million
• Expired tax/over taxing/reserve fund: 5 percent annually or around $3.2 million.
• Total paid interest on $169 million: $121.5 million
• Total “cost” of the building ($169M + $121M = $290 million)

Let’s start with the originally 53 to 69 cents figure:

• 53 cents per thousand on $4.8 billion in assessed property raises slightly more than $2.5 million per year, or $76 million, or one-fourth of the $290 million cost.
• 69 cents per thousand on $4.8 billion in assessed property raises slightly more than $3.3 million per year, or $99.4 million, about one-third of the $290 million cost.

In other words, the “only cost” figures are far short of what is needed.

Spending every penny of the 5 percent in overtaxing reserves across 30 years amounts to another $96 million.

That raises the actual tax on property taxpayers from 53 to 69 cents to $1.21 to $1.37 per thousand annually.

But that still is not enough money.

It’s $95 million to $118 million short: $1.21 only raises $172 million of the $290 million, while $1.37 only raises $195 million of the $290 million.

The district could use all of the reserves, but won’t and can’t, really, since bond lenders look at reserves as part of the district’s ability to pay and its bond rating.

This is where the expiring elementary school bonding consolidation will probably come in.

In 2041, taxpayers and renters should no longer have to pay for that bond. But like the previous RMS bonding, which doesn’t end until next year (yes, the district is planning to move forward with demolition of a building it has not finished paying for), and other bondings, that money will probably be shifted to the RMS project.

While it was higher when the project started, right now, that $3 million can be raised annually at a 67-cent-per-thousand rate. Those 15 years of expired elementary school bonding bring in an additional $45 million.

But even that is still not enough money.

Another 26 cents to 46 cents per thousand is needed across 30 years to make up the difference.

So, what is the final cost to a property taxpayer with a home with an assessed value of $350,000, the current average?

It depends, but the rough math suggests between $1.47 and $1.83 per thousand ($515 to $641 annually) in the first 15 years, and between $2.14 and $2.50 per thousand ($749 to $875 annually) in the second 15 years. These figures do not include any new property tax increases for the annual school budget or any other tax increases for emergencies, like in the past.

While there is some wiggle room, the increase of more than $12 million to the price tag throws a monkey wrench into the math. Maybe the district can get a better rate than 4 percent. One could hope. Either way, the public and the press should know by now, a little more than three weeks before a public hearing on what appears to be a more than a quarter-billion-dollar project.

Do you have a news tip? Please email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 190 communities. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.