What voters should know about the Old Colony Building Project

Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School has proposed a $288 million project to build a new high school. 

A vote on Tuesday, Nov. 18 will take place asking voters from Rochester, Mattapoisett, Lakeville, Carver and Acushnet to accept or reject this proposal.  For Lakeville voters, the vote will take place at the Ted Williams Camp building located at 28 Precinct St., from 12 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 18. Here is what to know about the project:

What does the project entail?Old Colony wants to construct a new school building and increase the student population from approximately 560 to 776 students. 

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 project would also address aging infrastructure, failing systems, a lack of fire protection and no water redundancy. 

How much would it cost? $288 million overall with $129 million reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. 

The remaining $159 million would be the responsibility of the member towns and Old Colony Regional School District. This would be assessed as a capital cost for member towns.

The capital cost for member towns will annually be based on 90% of each town’s total Old Colony enrollment in addition to 10% of the member town's total kindergarten through twelve enrollment. 

What is each member town's estimated share based on the most recent available figures? Acushnet is estimated to pay $55 million. Lakeville is estimated to pay $39.5 million. 

Carver is estimated to pay $26 million. Rochester is estimated to pay $28 million. 

Mattapoisett is estimated to pay $8.5 million. 

How many students from each town attend Old Colony right now? As of Sept. 30, Acushnet sends 206 students, Lakeville 134 students, Carver 98 students, Rochester 79 students and Mattapoisett 37 students to Old Colony, according to Superintendent Aaron Polansky. 

Where would the town money come from? Each town would decide how to fund its share; either through their annual operating budget or through a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion. 

Towns can vote to adopt a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion which would raise taxes a certain amount per household until the project is paid for. 

What happens if all the towns approve the project but one or more rejects a debt exclusion? If a town rejects the debt exclusion, the town would need to fund the project through their annual operating budgets. 

If a vote for a debt exclusion fails, it can be brought back to the voters a second time. 

What is the process for getting the project approved? A simple majority is needed to approve the project. This means 50% of the votes from all towns combined, plus one vote is all that is required to approve the project. 

What is the voting process? On Tuesday, Nov. 18, all five towns will host a special election between the hours of 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. choosing to accept or reject the new building proposal. 

What would a debt exclusion mean for the owner of a median-priced $573,000 home in Lakeville? Using the tax impact calculator, an owner of a median-priced Lakeville home would pay $113.17 quarterly to rebuild Old Colony.  

Visit www.oldcolonybuildingproject.com for more details on the proposal.