It sounds like a textbook contractor scam.
After weeks of considering the options for your home makeover (comparing paint swatches, fiddling with floor plans and most importantly, counting pennies) the other shoe drops.
Well, we looked more closely and it turns out this here, and that there… well, it’s going to cost more. A lot more.
That’s how some folks in the Bethlehem Central School District are probably feeling this week, after a recent finding by the district’s new architecture firm that a package of repairs and upgrades to BC’s facilities will come in a hefty $10 million more than previously thought.
Normally, this would not be a huge deal. It’s important to have realistic numbers before going out and borrowing $26 million and estimates can’t be up-to-date all the time, so fluctuations (even large ones) are bound to happen. The thing is, this news comes after weeks of kicking the tires on this bond with the public.
The district is certainly to be commended for providing opportunity for public interaction on this subject. It carved out several meetings just for that purpose. But it is no doubt disheartening to those parents, concerned residents and district staff members who took time out of their evenings to attend those meetings to realize the finances on this thing just morphed in a serious way.
We don’t think the intent is actually to scam taxpayers, and we’ve no doubt more opportunities for input will be made available. But we’d also like to point out to members of the school board that any public dialogue made before Nov. 28 was given without a full understanding of the situation.
These might seem like mere details, but this bond is more complicated than philosophy on the course of public education. The school board is now tasked with deciding what projects to put into the bond, which is subject to a public up-or-down vote.
Let us be clear: much of this project is undoubtedly necessary. Having a roof cave in is simply not an option, and officials over at Bethlehem Town Hall can attest that wavering on making such repairs can result in unpleasant and costly disasters. Saying “make do for another year” is just not an option in many cases.
Marcy Velte reports this week a decision is slated for the month of January. That’s the deadline if the district wants to organize a March vote. It’s good to make sure this bond makes it to vote because as mentioned, waiting on some of these repairs is not an option. However, let us propose packaging this bond into the May budget vote, which will give the community more time to examine the new list of costs and will save voters time and money that would be spent on a second vote weeks from the regular budget referendum.
And to district residents: take time to learn about the bond and make your opinion on it known. The impact will not be unsubstantial — if the entire $26 million bond is adopted, the average homeowner would see a more than $60 tax hike.
Some would say you don’t have a right to complain if you don’t vote. But in this case, in which voters can only vote “yes” or “no” on a package, not on individual lines, that’s really only true if you don’t actually speak up.
