Proper Planning

Could Have Saved Millions

To the Editor:

The development and implementation of the NHS expansion project using the current Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which lacks an integrated strategic long-term plan, was flawed. Current members of IPN recommended a long-term planning process to guide the CIP decisions back in 2006, but it was to no avail. Currently, more than $120 million of town/school capital requests are being considered, along with $30 million more for FFH, while over $30 million school projects were delayed last year. There is still no plan to guide these CIP decisions.

In The Newtown Bee December 2003 article regarding the HS space needs: “Mr Rosenthal suggested, in regard to the $10 million proposed in the CIP for the (HS) academy, that the Board of Finance should tell the Board of Education that this is what the town can afford. Noting that the Board of Education needs additional space for students,” he said, if there is a need for another building, it could be designed for the amount of money proposed in the CIP. Mr Gaston noted that the $10 million number “fits in the parameters of our guidelines.” However, Peter Giarratano noted, “Things cost what they cost. I feel the number is low. I really want to see hard data.”

Mr Rosenthal explained that a 75,000-square-foot addition could be built for about $8 million while a freestanding academy would be $20 million plus.”

The $10 million was unrealistic and two years later, the high school exceeded its capacity. In 2005, the HS Space Needs Committee recommended adding 48,000 square feet for $41 million. The BOF delayed the expansion project by a year to avoid reaching its ten percent self-imposed debt ceiling.

By February 2006, WECAN, a group of concerned citizens, endorsed a concept of constructing a new high school at FFH as a long-term measure to address the future space needs for the town and schools. We encouraged a review of the school district’s future space needs for its middle school and elementary school programs and the non-educational space needs of the town to investigate how construction of a new HS may impact current space decisions in the FFH Master Plan and the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development.

We asked for a working group to be convened to ensure that our town boards do not work in a vacuum within the confines of their own guidelines to plan for the future.

In October 2006, Gary Davis, Tom Murray and I met with John Kortze, Mike Portnoy and Lisa Schwartz. As a follow-up, we provided a best-case scenario set of recommendations to Mr Kortze, per his request. Visit http://www.independentpartyofnewtown.com/storage/document-library/ipn/high-school-expansion/Best-Case%20Scenario.doc to review those recommendations.

Unfortunately our recommendations were ignored. Proper planning could have saved millions of dollars for Newtown. Having undertaken two HS expansion projects costing more than $75 million within a decade’s time has resulted in higher taxes. It is time for action on a long-term plan and IPN has a history of having a vision for Newtown. I am confident that an IPN-led town government will ensure that it happens.

Po Murray

LC member

IPN candidate

38 Charter Ridge Drive, Newtown                      September 16, 2009