North Stonington school renovation proposal headed to referendum May 16
North Stonington — The referendum for the town's school renovation project has been set for May 16, following a town meeting on May 9. The referendum will determine the fate of a months-long effort by the Ad Hoc School Building Committee to find a way to renovate the town's schools after two previous projects were rejected by voters.
The Board of Selectmen also voted Thursday night to change the call of the meeting to ensure the project would not be pursued if the state does not grant reimbursement. Exempted from this is $1.95 million for project development that must be done before hearing back from the state.
Currently, the project sits at $38.5 million, and would cost the town $23.5 million after state reimbursement. That cost to the town will decline to $21.7 million if the committee's application for a space standard waiver — essentially exempting it from the state's limits on how much square footage is reimbursable — is successful.
"We are a very good candidate" for the waiver, said Mike Urgo, chairman of the Ad Hoc School Building Committee, noting that small schools generally fare better with this waiver.
Following the selectmen's meeting was a meeting of the boards of selectmen, finance and education, in which the Ad Hoc School Building Committee presented an update on its plans.
In determining the financial impact of the project, the committee found that funding through the USDA's Rural Development loan program for community facilities would give them a low interest rate over the 20-year term.
First Selectman Shawn Murphy noted that when he met with the USDA "months ago" regarding the Emergency Services Building project, one of the representatives told him that the USDA was interested in loaning money for the school project, and told him North Stonington should apply.
There are a number of advantages of funding through the loan program, including the current interest rate of 2.875 percent. Murphy said they would be working to prepare the paperwork for the loan application to submit "the day after if we could.
"We want to lock in that rate. It's important we get time to review it .... for them to act on it," Murphy said.
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