March ballot to include debt exclusion for school repair study

DUXBURY — The Select Board approved the addition of a debt exclusion to the ballot for the town’s March 28 election. The debt exclusion would fund a feasibility study of Alden School to determine what repairs the town must make to the building, or if it should replace the building altogether.

Alden School was originally built in 1949 and expanded in 1954, then expanded again between 2001 and 2003, according to the Duxbury Public Schools Building Committee.

Jen Burns, a Duxbury resident who said she has worked at Alden School for 18 years, said during public comment that Alden School is in “disrepair” and complained of high temperatures, ADA non-compliance and water infiltration.

A feasibility study produces a thorough assessment of a building’s infrastructure issues and a recommendation on solutions, which might be repairing the current building, tearing it down and rebuilding, or building a new site for Alden School somewhere else.

“It's a deep dive into the problems of the school, a look at multiple solutions,” Jon Lemieux, chair of the Alden School Building Committee, said in a Feb. 4 Select Board meeting.

The town estimated that a feasibility study would cost $1.75 million. That number includes $300,000 that could come from the school budget, and the Massachusetts School Building Authority informed the town that it qualifies for a 38% reimbursement on the cost of a feasibility study, or $665,000. That leaves an additional $785,000 that the town will need to borrow if the measure passes.

The loan would have a term of three years and an estimated annual debt service payment of $339,000 based on the town’s projection of interest rates. Finance Director Mary MacKinnon estimated that the debt exclusion would cost the average single family $52 per year in taxes.

The measure on the ballot will not include a cost estimate in accordance with Massachusetts law. The amount to be borrowed will be approved at town meeting March 14.

“Including a dollar figure implies that voters are approving of a specific expenditure amount, when in fact they are not,” MacKinnon said. “They are approving the concept of excluding debt from the levy for the life of the borrowing.”

Lemieux said that the feasibility study would also include the beginning stages of designs. As part of the study, the town would assess not only Alden School but potential sites for a replacement building, and the study could provide a cost estimate for recommended solutions.

“Our vote here tonight doesn't commit us to a specific project at the Alden School,” Select Board Member Michael McGee said. “We're going to get an idea of what our issues are, what the cost would be to say, do a renovation, to just do up maintenance, to do a rebuild somewhere. It would be kind of a menu.”

Burns said Alden School’s most pressing infrastructure problem is water infiltration, arguing that it increases future repair costs and disrupts the learning environment. Trash cans are frequently set up throughout the building to catch water falling from the ceiling, and students sometimes slip on water seeping up through the floor, she said.

“We are currently managing a building where moisture is not merely an occasional nuisance, but a systemic failure,” Burns said. “From a municipal standpoint, it's not just a maintenance issue. It's a matter of risk mitigation, asset preservation, and operational efficacy.”

Burns urged voters to support the debt exclusion.

“The proposed feasibility study is a necessary mechanism to move us from a reactive crisis management to proactive capital planning. It allows us to gather the data required to make a fiscally responsible, educated decision,” she said. “If we don't say yes at this point, it puts us back decades. And quite frankly, we don't have that time.”

If voters reject the debt exclusion on the ballot, the town could go forward with a feasibility study, but would not be able to take out a loan to fund it. That would also mean that the study would not qualify for the 38% reimbursement from MSBA and would have to find another $1.45 million in the budget to fund the project.

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