Letter to the Editor: Continues to support use of Historic School

A recent letter to the editor took exception to a letter I had written supporting the use of Historic School as the new elementary school. The writer stated that I had my facts wrong on the cost of the high school and that a newly constructed elementary school would be more cost-effective. I stand corrected on the costs I cited; none the less, the cost overrun was 32%.

The writer also went on to state that the reason that the high school cost had escalated so much was delays by the Board of Supervisors in approving its construction.. The writer uses the high schools cost escalation from original difference between the original estimated cost ($17 million) and the actual cost ($50 million) to justify building a new elementary school now and using the restored historic school as a library and offices for the school board.

What the writer neglects to take into account is that the escalation she cites was the result of the “housing bubble”. Does anyone think that we will experience that kind of cost escalation in the next decade?

Supervisors have funding to complete the historic school restoration. It does not have funds to build a new elementary school and the County’s borrowing authority is near its limit. So, a new school would have to be paid mainly by new taxes.

Estimates of the cost for a new elementary school are around $20 million. Since the writer wants the new school to be located where children could walk to school, the county would have to acquire land, which would make the cost even higher. One penny in taxes raises $228,000, so $20 million translates into 80 cents in new taxes. Even at half the cost, the tax increase would be staggering.

The writer is right that building a new school in 10 years will cost more than building it today. But in 10 years, the tax paying population will be larger and so should the number of tax paying commercial businesses.

The choice gets down to using the restored historic school as an elementary school now and building another one when it is needed and when the county’s has sufficient borrowing authority or using the historic school as a library and building a new elementary school while incurring a large increase in taxes.

The choice seems clear to me but this is a debate worth having.

Bill O’Keefe
Providence Forge