How Much Will Taxpayers Immediately Benefit By Closing Harborside Middle School?

By Brian McCready, Patch Editor

The devil is in the details and numbers.

If the Board of Education agrees to close Harborside Middle School in three to five years it will save taxpayers $750,000 annually.

But in order to close Harborside, the Boards of Finance and Aldermen must agree to spend between $8 and $10 million more to add additional classrooms at West Shore Middle School to accommodate Harborside’s students.

City officials had already planned to spend $19.5 million on a new roof, windows, code work, and a new art and music wing at West Shore. Again the boards of Finance and Aldermen must vote to approve those funds.

So In reality, taxpayers will begin to see real savings many years down the road, though it’s not exactly apples to apples.

By bonding the addition and renovation work at West Shore it will spread the costs out over a 20-year period, which lessens the immediate financial hit to taxpayers on an annual basis. Additionally, school officials said they plan to renovate as new West Shore, which means taxpayers will receive a higher financial reimbursement from the state of Connecticut, which also reduces the financial impact on taxpayers. Milford currently receives approximately 50 percent state reimbursement on school construction projects.

Schools Chief Operations Officer James L. Richetelli Jr. also told board members Monday night that the district could also save $3.25 million by not going ahead with plans to replace the roof and windows at Harborside, especially if it is not going to remain a school.

Milford Patch has a phone call out to Mayor Benjamin G. Blake to see if he supports the addition work at West Shore and the likely closing of Harborside. We’ll update this story once we hear from Blake.