Dual ballot for Old Colony: Lakeville residents to vote if and how to fund project
Select Board members Christopher Plonka (left) and Maureen Candito during the Sept. 30 board meeting. Photos source: LakeCAM
Town Manager Andrew Sukeforth (left) and executive assistant Colleen Lieb at the Sept. 30 Select Board meeting.
Select Board members Christopher Plonka (left) and Maureen Candito during the Sept. 30 board meeting. Photos source: LakeCAM
Town Manager Andrew Sukeforth (left) and executive assistant Colleen Lieb at the Sept. 30 Select Board meeting.
LAKEVILLE — Residents of Lakeville will see two separate ballots regarding replacing the Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School at a special election Tuesday, Nov. 18, between the hours of 12 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The Lakeville Select Board voted to hold a debt exclusion vote on the same day as the vote to replace Old Colony’s aging building. Select Board members approved the final wording of this item at their Sept. 30 meeting.
The first ballot asks for voter approval for the construction project. The old building was erected in 1975 and enrolls about 550 students. With a new, expanded facility, the school would be able to accept an additional 200 extra students.
Old Colony called for this election, not Lakeville. Four other towns, Acushnet, Carver, Mattapoisett and Rochester, also send students to the school, so voters in those districts will be asked the same question.
If the majority of these member towns approve the ballot — even if it does not pass in Lakeville — the construction would begin.
“It’s not just our vote, it’s all the member towns,” said Select Board Chair Maureen Candito. “If we vote it down but enough of the member towns vote for it, we still have to pay for it.”
The debt exclusion ballot asks voters how the town would pay for the expenditure if it passes. Debt exclusions authorize the town to temporarily increase taxes to fund a specific project, in this case the Old Colony replacement.
About 25% of Old Colony’s students are from Lakeville, so the town would be responsible for about a quarter of the construction costs. With a projected cost of $288 million, less a $129 million state grant, the town’s responsibility would be a minimum of $39.5 million. The total cost shared by the member towns and Old Colony Regional School District is $159 million.
For a medium-priced house, that comes out to a $452 yearly tax increase.
“It’s not insignificant,” Candito said. ”We do know the ask, but it’s not really an ask, it’s just how it’s funded that’s really at stake for this vote.”
The repayment is expected to last 30 years, although Town Manager Andrew Sukeforth said the levy amount would decrease over time.
He said even if the town votes no to the first ballot, it must still pay its share if the initiative is passed. The debt exclusion vote is not a question of if the project is funded, he said, but how.
If voters don’t approve the exclusion, the town would still need to pay $30 million. Without a debt exclusion, those funds would have to come from the operating budget — extra money the town doesn’t have.
Sukeforth said the cost would be too large, as the town would have to pay about $1.5 million annually out of this budget for 30 years. He said if this vote fails, he would likely call for another vote on it.
“Otherwise we have to pay the debt payment, which I estimate at probably $1.2 to $1.5 million per year, then we’ll have to do it all again the year after that,” he said. “For thirty years we’ll have to fork over $1.5 million. That’s why it makes sense to do a debt exclusion.”
