In a public vote Tuesday, the community supported the school district’s plan to spend $2.8 million on new roofs and other facilities.
The Skaneateles Central School District held the vote at Waterman School on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The unofficial tally was 450 for and 171 against — a 72 percent approval. In total, 621 total residents of the school district voted. The board of education will officially verify the results of the vote, including about 30 absentee ballots that have yet to be counted, at its meeting on Dec. 17.
Included in the bond are five separate projects all dealing with the middle school/high school building. Starting in June 2014 the district will bring in contractors to replace multiple areas of the roof on the building which are overdue to be replaced and already leaking in some places.
Also starting in 2014, the district will do masonry restoration work, window repairs, boiler room drainage areaway reconstruction and safety and security upgrades.
Starting with the 2015-16 school year budget the project will add an estimated $20.90 to the tax bill of a property valued at $275,000. The bond will be paid back over a 15-year period.
This bond has been called phase one of a large number of facility projects the district initially proposed in a failed referendum last June. The district has said that phase two will be included on the ballot with the annual budget referendum in May 2014.
The voter turnout for this vote – 621 votes cast not including absentee ballots – was significantly lesser than other recent school district votes. In June of this year, 1,150 people cast ballots on the capital project referendum and a computer purchase referendum. In the annual budget vote and school board election held in May of this year, 1,191 people voted.
