Souhegan Cooperative School District school budget upgrades eyed

Thursday, February 9, 2012

AMHERST – The Souhegan Cooperative School District’s proposed $18.55 million operating budget for fiscal 2012-13, along with a nearly $3 million, 10-year facilities upgrade bond and three other warrant articles remain unchanged after Monday night’s Deliberative Session.

The cooperative district includes voters from Amherst and Mont Vernon, and is one of three districts that come under SAU 39. Voters from the two towns will go to the polls on Tuesday, March 13, to elect candidates for School Board and other district offices and vote on the warrant articles.

School Board and SAU 39 officials answered several questions from a handful of the roughly 40 attendees Monday night, some of which centered around the way interest on bonds is calculated from year to year. Mont Vernon residents Will Archibald and Brian Bunner suggested the proposed budget increase is closer to $500,000 than the $12,700, or .07 percent, increase put forward at the meeting.

District business manager Betty Shenkel and board member Steve Coughlan clarified, saying much of the surplus from reduced bond and expendable trust payouts was returned to taxpayers last year.

The budget would increase the school portion of property taxes in Amherst by 25 cents, to $8.08 per $1,000 valuation, a roughly $81 per year increase on a home assessed at $325,000. Mont Vernon taxpayers would see an increase of 28 cents, to $8.36 per $1,000 valuation, an increase of $112 per year on a home assessed at $400,000.

Should the budget be voted down, a default budget of just under $18.4 million, roughly $172,000 less than the proposed budget, would take effect. With the default budget, Amherst taxpayers would pay 9 cents per $1,000 less than if the proposed budget passed, while Mont Vernon residents would pay 10 cents less.

Probably the most significant article outside of the operating budget is the $2.9 million bond to address the most pressing structural issues the 20-year-old buildings are facing.

Citing no major structural or systems upgrades since Souhegan’s 1991 construction, School Board members said they chose the most critical of the roughly $14 million in repairs and renovations outlined in the recent survey by Gale Associates – replacing the main building roof and HVAC units; upgrading the substandard interior locking system; and repairing the campus roads and parking lots – for voter consideration this year.

“Our biggest fear is a catastrophic failure of the roof or other main systems,” School Board member Mary Lou Mullens said, adding that several roof leaks have recently been reported, especially over the gym.

The article needs a three-fifths – 60 percent – majority to pass.

Also going to voters in March are Article 4, which would transfer $65,000 to the school maintenance fund from the undesignated fund if a surplus exists on July 1; and Article 5, which asks voters to approve the establishment of a private expendable trust fund to build, improve and maintain school athletic fields and facilities. Such a fund, board member Pim Gronstra said, would be barred from accepting taxpayer dollars.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 303, or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.