Preparing for the polls: Nov. 18 Old Colony vote approaches

LAKEVILLE — Voters in Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Rochester and the two other towns that send students to Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School will go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 18 to determine the fate of a $288 million proposed project to rebuild and expand the school. 

A majority of the combined votes in Lakeville, Acushnet, Carver, Mattapoisett and Rochester is necessary for the project to proceed. 

If the project is approved at the Nov. 18 vote, each town would need to find the funds for its share based on the number of students sent to Old Colony — either by increasing taxes or within the confines of its regular operating budget.

Lakeville and Rochester’s balloting will also include a vote on whether to pay for each town's share through a Proposition 2 ½ debt exclusion — allowing taxes to be temporarily increased above the tax limits by whatever amount is needed to pay back a 30-year bond.

In Acushnet and Carver, officials are delaying votes on how the town would fund its share of an approved project. Mattapoisett will wait to vote on the matter at Spring Town Meeting.

The new high school would modernize their now 50-year-old building, yet town officials remain worried about the hefty price tag that comes alongside. 

The project 

Old Colony has proposed a $288 million project to construct a new school building and increase the student population from approximately 560 to 776 students. 

Per state academic standards, the school is currently too small for its current student population. The project would address aging infrastructure, failing systems, and a lack of both fire protection and backup mechanisms for their water supply— all of which would need to be addressed to meet standards regardless of a new construction.

In addition, three new programs would be added: HVAC, plumbing and dental assisting. Updates would include more classroom space, updated equipment and updated technology as part of an entirely new high school building.

The estimated cost  

Of the $288 million overall, $129 million is estimated to be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. 

The remaining $159 million would be the responsibility of the member towns and the Old Colony Regional School District. Each town’s financial contribution is proportional to how many students they send to Old Colony a year — similar to how the annual operating expenses of the school are divided among the towns.

Lakeville is estimated to pay $39 million, Rochester is estimated to pay $28 million and Mattapoisett is estimated to pay $8.5 million.

Paying for the project 

It is estimated that Acushnet would pay the most with 19% of the share, since it sends the highest number of students to Old Colony a year. Next would be Lakeville with 14%, Rochester with 10%, Carver 9% and Mattapoisett with 3%. 

As of September, Acushnet sends 206 students, Lakeville 134 students, Carver 98 students, Rochester 79 students and Mattapoisett has 37 students attending Old Colony, according to Superintendent Aaron Polansky.

If taxes were to be raised to fund the project, the proposed project's effect on each town would be markedly different. 

Acushnet would have the highest tax burden with owners of a median priced home seeing taxes increase by $722.16 a year.

In Rochester, the owner of a median priced home would see taxes increase by $646.60 a year.

In Lakeville, owners of a median prices home would see an annual tax increase by $452.68, and Mattapoisett taxpayers would see an increase of $141.56. Carver would have a tax impact of $320.56 a year. 

Residents of all member towns can use the Tax Impact Calculator to find how the debt exclusion would affect their taxes.

A variety of concerns

Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said if the project and debt exclusion are approved, it would not affect ongoing and approved debt exclusion projects in Lakeville.

“The best comparison I've heard is, if you buy a new house, and let's say you have a second house — you're still paying off the mortgage on the first one — and then you have a new mortgage for the second one,” Sukeforth said.

Ongoing debt exclusions that are already on Lakeville taxpayer’s bills include debt from the Freetown Lakeville Regional School District — ending this fiscal year — and the Lakeville Police station, which has nine years left of repayment.

Two debt-exclusion projects that will start to appear on tax bills in FY27, the Route 79 redevelopment and the new fire station, have been authorized to borrow $2.3 million and $21.4 million respectively. Sukefoth said since the two projects are yet to be completed, the funding amounts are not final.

Sukeforth said if the project is approved but the debt exclusion is not, it would be unrealistic to use the town’s annual operating budget to fund the project.

“The projected yearly debt payment is very high,” Sukeforth said. “To take it out of the operating budget — I don't know if that’s feasible without making significant cuts.”

If the operating budget is used to fund the project, Sukeforth said the projected yearly debt payment would total more than $1 million, about what Lakeville takes in from new growth property taxes every year.

“Our entire tax increase would go to something like this, and not other projects,” Sukeforth said. “That's why it's so difficult to pay for it out of the operating budget.”

Sukeforth said if the project is approved but a debt exclusion is not, there is no limit to how many times municipalities can attempt additional debt exclusion votes.

In Rochester, officials are well along in the planning process for a long-discussed new fire station. The new fire station in Rochester is estimated to cost $19 million. Rochester’s fire station would likely need to be funded with a debt exclusion on top of whatever is decided for the Old Colony project. 

“When you have a building from 1883, a fire station, the more you wait the more you'll pay in the future,” said Rochester Town Administrator Camron Durant. “So there's that balance back and forth. Do we need a new school? Do we need a fire station? Unfortunately, that's just the state of where we are.” 

Mattapoisett town officials also remain wary of the enrollment increase of Old Colony taking students and funding away from Old Rochester Regional High School.

“It's possible that if enrollment were to fall at Old Rochester, there would be financial impacts with the construction of Old Colony, but it goes both ways. If we spent money at Old Rochester, there might be an impact financially on Old Colony,” said Michael Lorenco, Mattapoisett Town Administrator.

If the project is not approved

Old Colony officials point out that the alternative to the rebuild is not to do nothing. The school district can come back to the voters another time with a new proposal — but they would have to wait until the competitive state grants become available again in the future. 

The cost to repair the current building is significant. The district estimates it would cost about $134 million to make the necessary repairs and renovations if a new school was not built. In addition, that cost is estimated without any state-grant funding to soften the price to member towns — whereas the new construction would see a state reimbursement of $129 million.

Repairs will not increase the student population, but bring the needed improvement to safety, accessibility and energy efficiency standards.

“If we don't [build a new high school] right now, it would be fiscally irresponsible to put a band-aid on a 50-year-old building,” said Aaron Polansky, Old Colony’s superintendent.

Polling times and locations 

Polls will open at 12 p.m. and run until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18. 

Lakeville residents will vote at Ted Williams Camp located at 28 Precinct Street. 

More information 

For more information and to review the building plans, visit the Old Colony Building Project website at www.oldcolonybuildingproject.com. To see how quarterly taxes would be impacted by a debt exclusion, visit the Tax Impact Calculator.  

The next Old Colony Project public presentations are Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. at Apponequet Regional High School before the Lakeville Town Meeting and the same day at Rochester Fire Department with a time to be announced.