Residents of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake approved only one of three propositions voted on at the district’s Renovations Referendum on Wednesday, Dec. 9. The roughly $12.5 million approved Energy Bond Issue Proposition, which passed 613 to 450, will implement various energy efficient renovations at several district schools.
The defeated propositions were relatively closea $3.9 million Student Safety Bond Issue Proposition, 526 to 537, and a $3.1 million Technology Bond Issue Proposition, 504 to 558but residents seemed to be hesitant to designate such large sums of money to those projects at this time, according to BH-BL Central Schools Communications Specialist Christy Multer.
`I think the economy is just something people are really worried about these days and we certainly understand that,` said Multer.
Multer said that the proposition that did pass will go far in making the district’s buildings more energy efficient and will reduce energy costs in the long run; there are three main projects and several smaller ones.
The largest is a roughly $4.1 million project that would replace part of the roofing at each of the five schools`11 acres of roof total. Multer said this is a maintenance project that must be undertaken at least every 20 to 30 years and is quite necessary.
`Roofing only lasts for so long in our climate so we have to anticipate replacing. We will replace the oldest and more deteriorated portions,` said Multer, who added that the district does some type of roofing work every five to six years to keep them in shape. `The whole hope is to get ahead of any problems because once a roof actually starts to leak and you get water inside the roof, there can be much more damage at greater expense. Just like smart homeowner don’t let problems or deterioration get to the point where costs are higher, we want to avoid higher costs down the road.`
The second largest project will actually cut the district’s energy costs the most. An approximately $3.9 million will be needed to convert the 47-year-old steam heating system at Stevens Elementary School to a hot water heating system. Multer said that Stevens Elementary is the last school to switch over to this more energy efficient system and that it saves a significant amount of money.
`We estimate this will save about $100,000 a year and we will probably start work this coming summer, which is good news for 2010-11 school budget,` said Multer.
The last major project will be a $1.7 million plan to replace the remaining single-pane windows at the high school, middle school and Charlton Heights. Upgrading the windows will eventually save the district money over time, said Multer.
Although those three projects are the focus of the $12, 538, 550 approved proposition, several projects`while a smaller scale`will go far in reducing the district’s energy costs for years to come. About $375,000 will be used to replace worn out and deteriorated exterior doors at all five schools and about $1.5 million will go to upgrade Charlton Heights’ boiler and the school’s heating control system so that temperatures will be properly regulated. Multer said that while the schools all have modern efficient boilers, they still rely on old fashioned temperature controls, which leads to uneven temperature distribution.
`Rooms on the sunny side might be sweltering but rooms on other side might be colder. Controlling levels of heat is much more efficient than opening windows,` said Multer. `Many people don’t understand what a big and complicated system it is to heat such an enormous building with wings. The upgraded system will allow heat to be sent only to rooms that need it.`
The least costly but perhaps most essential renovation will be a $97,500 project to install air-conditioning in the Pashley School cafetorium, said Multer. The elementary school is the district’s only two-story building without a large meeting room with air-conditioning, something that is virtually a must on the few days with summer-like temperatures.
`On days when it’s really hot outside, kids on the second floor can really be sweltering. I’ve been up there and seen their little red faces. It would be nice to have one large meeting room where they can go for a while to cool down,` said Multer, who said that since the district can’t afford to air condition the entire school, this is will provide at least a small bit of relief.
Multer said that while the district is disappointed the other two propositions were defeated, there are several urgent projects within them that will still have to get done somehow. Finding the way to do this is the challenge and Multer said options are being evaluated now.
`Something we’ll have to find another way to fund is replacing the movable partition walls inside the school gyms. Ours are in pretty bad shape and are no longer reliable; they still work but we try to avoid using them because we’re afraid they’ll break,` said Multer. `We had expected to spend $498,000 to replace them if the public had approved`which they did not`so now, one of the things we have to do is look at the various walls and try to find money to replace maybe the worst one.`
Another urgent issue that won’t immediately happen is replacement of the septic system pumping stations at four schools. The stations are 50 years old and badly need to be upgraded, said Multer. She said some money will probably need to be put into next year’s budget to work on those.
The technology proposition that failed to pass doesn’t fall into the urgent category but more into the `planning ahead` category, according to Multer. The schools have very slow internet access and the proposition would have upgraded the district to a fiber optic network that would have provided high speed access for the next 20 years.
A total of 1,064 residents voted, included 41 by absentee ballot. This number is up from the 914 who voted in the previous referendum in March of 2007.
For more on this story, pick up the Dec. 17 print edition of Saratoga Spotlight.
“
