Letter: New school is the right choice for Westport

Posted 2/15/18

To the editor:

This letter is intended for those fellow Westporters who may still be on the fence about the town’s plans to build a new grade 5-12 school on the site of the present Middle …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Letter: New school is the right choice for Westport

Posted

To the editor:

This letter is intended for those fellow Westporters who may still be on the fence about the town’s plans to build a new grade 5-12 school on the site of the present Middle School.  As a member of the Select Board, I have been directly involved in many aspects of the very lengthy process needed to develop and shape this proposal.  Most of you have not had this luxury so I will do my best here to briefly share answers to the questions that have been asked of me.

Yes, the Middle School is a PCB mess.  Think Dr. Seuss’ ‘Cat in the Hat.’  Although we were able to keep airborne PCB’s below EPA guidelines in most of the building following our first attempt at remediation, full and permanent remediation will cost us as much or more than a new building.  And if we don’t move forward with this new school project we will be trying to fix or tear down the Middle School without the state picking up half of the tab.

Yes, given the loss of the Middle School we will need to add to our inventory of school buildings now or in the very near future.  Even though we are making do with the remaining three buildings augmented by temporary classrooms at the Macomber, we will be heading for major upgrades and renovations at the High School if we do not move ahead with the new school.  And this worst case analysis takes into account flat to declining enrollment.

Yes, the 5-12 option is the best one for Westport.  The Massachusetts School Building Authority, the arm of the state that will be paying more than 40% of the project, does not tend to fund small school projects.  This is because they have determined that schools designed for a minimum of 700 students are the most cost effective to build, staff and maintain.  They only have so much of our money to spend on new schools and this is one of the criteria they use in selecting successful projects.   This will be our only chance in the foreseeable future to bring some of those hard earned tax dollars back to Westport.

Yes, the additional debt incurred with the new school is entirely manageable.  We presently have a very low debt burden.  The addition borrowing needed to support the new school, in conjunction with the MSBA grant will leave us at less than half of the state’s guidelines on maximum long term debt. 

Yes, your taxes will go up.  The owner of an average home assessed at $400,000 will need to pay a little over a dollar a day more in taxes for the 25-30 year duration of the bond.  Your taxes will go up more if we miss this opportunity and have to go it alone.  We’ve tried being “penny wise” on similar new building projects before and it hasn’t been to our financial advantage. 

Yes, Westport will still have one of the very lowest tax rates in the state.  Right now we are 21 from the bottom of 351 municipalities.  The new school will result in us moving up one spot to #22, still well ensconced in the bottom 10% of the state’s cities and towns. 

If you total the population of the 21 towns that would have a lower tax rate than Westport, you will learn that we are in a very select group.  You see, with the new school, it will still be the case that less than 1% of Massachusetts residents will have a lower tax rate then us.  So let’s not spend a lot of time wringing our hands over whether the new school will change the tax equation here in Westport.

Yes, the language in the Town Meeting article and the ballot question is convoluted but entirely proper and without risk to the town.  I have personally pushed back on the state’s use of similar legalese once before.  No one in the process could unashamedly defend the language but the fact of the matter is that this is a well-traveled path which scores of towns have gone down without a problem.  This issue is red herring.

Finally, I believe “Yes” is the answer to the question of approving this project at the ballot next week.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness of those who have held our feet to the fire and demanded answers to some very important questions over the past several months.  I am hopeful that we have comprehensively addressed those questions but I remain available to any and all if this is not the case.  

I thank you for being involved and considering a yes vote at the ballot on Tuesday, February 27. 

R. Michael Sullivan

Member, Westport Board of Selectmen

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.