Manchester Referendum Tomorrow Seeks Approval To Fund 'Critical' Upgrades At Schools

Heating and air conditioning systems that are so old that the contractor has to make parts to repair them. Roofs, some as much as 30 years old, that leak. Security upgrades to protect students and staff.

When Manchester voters go to the polls tomorrow, they are being asked to approve a $15.5 million referendum that will address these items as well as security upgrades at all five of the township’s schools, items the district says are critical needs that simply do not fit into the budget under the state’s 2 percent cap on budget increases.

The polls will be open from 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Of the $15.5 million voters are being asked to approve, 40 percent of it, $6.2 million, would be funded with a state grant the district has received for the purpose -- money the district will lose if the referendum fails, district Business Administrator Craig Lorentzen said. The remaining portion, $9.3 million, would be funded through a 15-year bond at 3.5 percent interest. The impact on property taxes would be about $1 per month per $100,000 of assessed value, school officials have said.

If the referendum fails, Lorentzen said, the district will be liable for 100 percent of the cost of the work, which must be done, school officials have said.

“These issues are not going to go away,” Lorentzen said.

Currently, the district is spending $250,000 to $400,000 annually for maintenance on HVAC equipment and roofing is that is 25 to 30 years old, Lorentzen said in July.

“The HVAC contractor is literally here every day,” he said. “We can’t get parts – sometimes they have to make the parts.”

In addition, because the systems are so old, they don’t have dehumification built into them, he said, which, in addition to leaking roofs, very likely contributed to the mold issues that forced the district to close Manchester Middle School for more than three months during the 2012 school year.

“There are dehumidifiers running at Ridgeway (which also had mold issues) and Manchester Middle School nonstop to prevent mold,” Lorentzen told the Board of Education in August.

All of these issues are costing money that the district could be spending in the classroom, Lorentzen said.

Architect Steve Siegel of Spiezle Group in July said the district has been using a Band-Aid approach, pouring money into maintenance and repairs for these items, which impacts the budget and takes operating funds away from curriculum and program funding.

“It’s not that the district hasn’t kept up on maintenance. They have done a great job keeping these systems going for so many years,” he said.

Siegel said that the HVAC upgrades, along with proposed lighting upgrades, would result in energy savings for the district estimated at $5.6 million over the next 15 years. This funding would be used to help pay down the debt and reduce the impact to the taxpayers.

Lorentzen said that the retirement of two debt service bonds over the next two years would decrease the tax rate enough to minimize the cost to the taxpayers.

If the referendum passes, the work is expected to be done next summer. school officials said.