Mayor Launches 'Yes For Salem' New High School Tax Override Campaign

SALEM, MA — Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo launched the "Yes For Salem" campaign as the city's official push for a property tax override passage to fund a new high school.

The May 5 vote will ask residents to foot the bill for about $239 million of the $447 million cost of a new school, which officials said is needed to replace the 50-year-old building that is becoming obsolete and is energy deficient, and they said will cost more in capital improvements to keep up to code over the next two decades than it will take to build a new state-of-the-art building now.

• Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo Campaigns For New High School In Inaugural Address

The Massachusetts School Building Authority will cover the balance of the cost for a new school, but will not contribute toward ongoing repairs that will inevitably be needed in the current building.

According to the city, based on the average median home value of $590,000, the tax bill would go up $710 per year to cover the costs of the override. Officials say the cost of deferred repairs and other energy costs to maintain the current building to residents would actually be more over time.

The median increase for commercial property over the 30 years of debt payments is $1,233 per year, according to the site.

A "yes" vote would see tax increases begin in 2028.

"I truly believe a new school is not only better for our students but makes life better for our entire community," Pangallo told Patch in an interview this past fall. "The high school is a flagship for the entire community and right now our high school is not living up to that for us."

Pangallo told Patch that the school was built in 1976 and "almost immediately needed upgrades and repairs."

"It hasn't gotten any better," he said.

He said the school is currently "too large for the number of students we have now, but, ironically, the classrooms are too small." He said expanding CTE programs cannot be served properly in the current building.

If approved, school construction will take about four years, with students remaining in the current building until the new building is completed.

"We believe Salem students deserve a building as phenomenal as they are," Pangallo said.

The "Yes For Salem" full site can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)