Dallin decision awaits state opinion
Building Committee to vote Dec. 3 or sooner
The Permanent Town Building Committee Tuesday night postponed voting on the Dallin School project as it awaits word about a financing request to the state Department of Revenue (DOR).
In addition, the School Committee is expected to provide guidance about the issue at its next meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 26.
The vote about whether to continue spending money on plans for the school so that work can begin next June could come at the building committee's Dec. 3 meeting. It could occur sooner, if the DOR provides an answer to questions posed by Town Treasurer John Bilafer regarding how the project is financed. Bilafer has asked the DOR:
-- Under Proposition 2 1/2 can the Town increase the exempt portion of the tax rate up to $34.5 million regardless of the scheduling of reimbursements by the state?
-- What is the DOR position with regard to adherence by town officials concerning both oral and published representations made to taxpayers during the course of a debt exclusion campaign?
Building committee board member Suzanne Owayda reported that Superintendent Kay Donovan moved to postpone the decision until Dec. 3 or sooner. Owayda seconded the motion, and it was a unanimous vote, she said.
Once the motion was made, Owayda noted that the building committee does not want to procrastinate, but added that it is imperative that we have all the information before making this important decision, including an answer from the DOR.
In addition, according to Owayda, Town Counsel John Maher said Town Meeting authorizes the building committee to spend money on a project, but the building committee is not obligated to spend the money. He continued to say that the building committee must use its moral, ethical and political sense to decide whether or not we should proceed with the Dallin school.
A group of concerned citizens, including those from Dallin, attended the meeting Nov. 19.
The Permanent Town Building Committee met in special session Wednesday, Nov. 13, in Town Hall auditorium to try and get guidance from Town Meeting members and the general public. About 50 people attended that two-hour session.
That meeting was called after Town Moderator John Worden declined to allow an extended discussion of the Dallin issue at the Nov. 6 Special Town Meeting, because there was no official article on the warrant to address it.
On Nov. 13 building committee Chairman John Cole said the board's mission is to oversee buildings that voters and officials authorize. It is "not a policy-making body," he said.
Later in the meeting, speakers, including Jacqueline Harrington, Precinct 12 Town Meeting member, suggested the building committee could be usurping the power of Town Meeting if it decided to delay the Dallin project.
Cole said Nov. 6 that the building committee needs advice about whether to proceed and spend $500,000 for drawings, and then seek construction bids in the spring for a potential start next June.
Other speakers Nov. 6, including Charles Foskett, chairman of the town's Capital Planning Committee, laid out arguments for delaying the Dallin project.
Foskett's written remarks included a chart showing the costs for the last four schools to be rebuilt -- Peirce, Dallin, Thompson and Stratton -- increasing to $48.7 million, from $34 million. Voters approved $34.5 on the four schools in April 2000.
Town officials have said that the Dallin's place on the state list for rebuilt or renovated schools will remain in place, even if the project is delayed, but work must begin on it within a year once the Dallin moves up to be funded. Dallin stands at No. 97 on the fiscal 2003 list.
-- Bob Sprague
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