NORTHVILLE – Members of the Northville Central School District Board of Education said Tuesday the proposed capital project focuses on necessities.
The $7.5 million proposed project targets features that haven’t been upgraded in decades, members said.
Some of the improvements of the proposed capital project would include upgraded playing fields and playground equipment. The track that circles the main soccer field would be removed and replaced with a walking path. A few of the more expensive items would include repairing the boilers, roofing and replacing the energy management system.
At least 12 new interactive whiteboards and updates to the local access network would also be installed in this capital project.
“There are no thrills. These are the things we feel are the bare minimum. These are the absolute necessities for our students,” Board Member Arlene Rambush said Tuesday during a public hearing on the capital project.
District taxpayers who have senior STAR tax exemptions would see an increase of $9 on their tax bill due to the project. A property owner with basic STAR would see an increase of $17. Taxpayers with no exemptions would see a $25 increase.
A community forum on the project will be held March 7. The vote on the capital project will be March 22.
During the hearing, school board President Michael Feldman encouraged questions from the audience.
One of the main concerns voiced was that outdoor lights are not included in the roughly $1.46 million that is going towards redesigning the playing fields.
District Superintendent Leslie Ford said officials decided the lights could be put off until the next capital project.
Rambush said outdoor field lights would cost $370,000.
Although the cost of the proposed capital project is $7.5 million, Ford said, if the district chose to do every aspect that needed upgrading the capital project would have been $10 to $12 million.
School Board Vice President John Sira said the district tried to stay relatively conservative when it came to creating the capital project. It would have been easy to make the project more expensive , he said.
Sira said he felt it was better to hold off, rather than spend $300,000 for lights that may be used during six games per year.
“Everything we budgeted in the capital project, every child in this school is going to benefit from, not just some of the kids in the school and some people in the community,” Sira said.
“I don’t think there’s a thing I would take off to replace with the lights,” Feldman said.
