Artificial Turf Plan At Rockville High School Scrapped — For Now

VERNON, CT — A proposal to replace the natural grass field with artificial turf at the Rockville High School stadium while also re-doing the track and field surfaces has been scrapped for next year's education budget cycle.

Superintendent Joseph Macary on Wednesday said the plan has been removed from the Board of Education budget proposal for the 2020-21 fiscal year. He said the concern in town financial circles was interest included in the plan to first lease the field before buying it outright. It was included as an operational item but would be likely revisited as a capital expense for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

The school budget was ititially proposed at $54.8 million, a number that represents an increase of 1.85 percent, or $998,629.

In the lease-to-own field proposal, the cost would have been $187,188 per year for eight years as an operational expense and the town would purchase the field outright for one buck after that period, Macary said.

Third-party entities would have been bidding on the project and the lease would have included two maintenance visits per year, he added.

The entire track and field area would have been resurfaced and new pits wouod have been constructed for the jumping events, he said.

The field, Macary said, was not designed to save money, but add 30 to 35 days of usage to the complex, based on weather-related postponements.