Souhegan Warrant Left Unchanged Before Vote

Souhegan Cooperative School District's warrant went through deliberative session unscathed Monday night.

Members of the small audience of voters had some questions about the school’s spending, but made no attempt to amend any of the warrant articles.

The big topic at the meeting was the proposed article asking voters permission to raise $2,930,701 in bonds for renovation, repair and replacement of the roof, HVAC system, paving and interior locking.

Souhegan Board vice chairwoman Mary Lou Mullens said that building is 20-years-old and has had no major work done to date. Also, the interior locking system is obsolete and does not meet current safety and security standards.

The interest cost for FY13 would be $50,066, with the total interest of the bond totalling $487,777.

Theis work is just a portion of the recommended $14 million in renovation from Gale Associates after their assessment of the high school.

The proposed budget for the school district is $18,550,794 and is only a .07 percent increase of last year’s budget. The default budget has been set to $18,378,827.

Some of the smaller recommendations in the Gale report were included in the district’s operating budget, mainly $70,000 for the repair and replacement of outside lights. Upgrades to technology and network wiring were also included.

The estimated tax rate increase with the proposed Souhegan budget is $0.25 for Amherst residents and $0.28 for Mont Vernon residents.

David Chen of Amherst questioned whether the school was maintaining a proper teacher-student ratio as enrollment decreases.

Souhegan school principal Jon Ingram said that they anticipate 860 students in the next fiscal year and have 163.7 staff members hired. He said that the staffing levels drop along with student enrollment if needed.

He added that the school has always worked to maintain an average 80:1 teacher ratio in the high school.

An article on the warrant that would move the year-end surplus into the School Maintenance Fund to pay for additional repair items outside of the budget was approved without much discussion.

The meeting closed with discussion on the private expendable trust fund that the school district would use to pay for a new athletic facility and fields with private money.

Election day will take place on Tuesday, March 13 at Souhegan Cooperative High School from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m.