Montville — Residents will see an added question on their ballot on Election Day.

The Town Council approved to put the capital school improvement project — which totals $8 million in bonds — to vote this fall. The motion to add it to the ballot passed 6-0 at the council’s meeting on July 11. Councilor Bill Caron was absent due to illness.

The state could reimburse the town for up to 70% of the funds, according to state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague.

“Some town councils are a little more aggressive in handling issues than others and I’m pretty pleased that the council is working with the Board of Ed on this,” said Wills Pike, chairman of the Board of Education.

The town plans to renovate four of Montville’s six schools with one $7 million bond. Tyl Middle School’s roof replacement — including air handlers — totals over $5 million. The roof repairs, as well as a boiler replacement and some new caulking, will be financed together with the window replacements at Mohegan Elementary, Murphy Elementary’s new fire alarm panel and a partial roof replacement at Palmer School.

The other $1 million bond is solely for the high school. Replacing the tennis courts will take up approximately three quarters the funds, while the track replacement will use the rest. The separation of the bonds in this manner came as a recommendation by the Bond Counsel, according to the meeting minutes.

“All these things have a life expectancy that’s been reached or extended at this point and they need to be replaced,” Pike said, and added the tennis courts are in “complete disrepair.”

Pike noted that not every project will be completed by the end of the calendar year, which opened the window to bundle the projects together and finance them over several years with bonds.

Bonds allow the town to secure funding for the long-term projects without burdening next year’s budget, Town Council Chairman Tom McNally said. He said the town does not have to exhaust the total money allotted over the life of the bond.

McNally as well as Pike stated Montville taxpayers will see little to no impact on their current tax rates. Montville Finance Director Theresa Hart confirmed those statements, but could not provide an exact number at the time of inquiry.

McNally said in the 2024-25 fiscal year, Montville will see its bond debt shrink by $1.4 million, and another $700,000 the year after, thanks to current bonds coming to term. McNally and Hart made it clear “it’s a good time to do something of this nature,” Pike said.

“What most people aren’t aware of is school properties belong to the people of Montville,” Pike reminded residents. “They pay taxes for that.”

The state offers partial reimbursement to towns for large-scale projects concerning school buildings, such as replacing the roof at Tyl Middle School. Per Section 10-285a of Chapter 173 of the Connecticut General Statutes, towns are reimbursed between 20% and 80% of their project based on their adjusted equalized net grand list per capita, or AENGLC, rank.

A municipality’s AENGLC ranking is defined by both property tax base per person — the form of wealth taxed by Connecticut towns — and income per person. Per capita income gives better understanding to a town’s overall taxing capacity. Those rankings are listed in descending order from 169 down to one, with the towns most in need filling out the top of the list.

For 2023, Montville is ranked 140 in the state, meaning it is in line to receive a greater reimbursement from the state for the roofing portion of the capital project.

Osten, whose district includes Montville, said Montville’s school state reimbursement rate is 60.36% for new construction and 70.6% for renovations and other types of construction.

She said the rates change and local legislators representing the town will work to try to boost Montville’s reimbursement rate.

“We always try to get communities more reimbursement,” Osten said.

k.arnold@theday.com