York Town News
YHS music space plan on hold
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - A potential problem with a plan to use existing funds to offset the cost of the proposed York High School music and arts instructional space addition has forced officials to remove the request from the ballot for the upcoming May referendum.Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione informed the Board of Selectmen prior to its public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2008 town and school budget that the request to use approximately $1.2 million in interest income from the York Middle School construction bonds to fund all but $500,000 of the project has raised concerns among the legal counsel for both the town and School Department.
"We have been notified by both our legal counsel and the town's bond counsel that there is a potential problem with the use of the interest earned money on the general obligation bonds from the middle school project that were being requested for the music instructional space project at YHS," Scipione explained in his letter to the selectmen.
Selectmen Vice Chairman Dwight Bardwell commented briefly at Monday's meeting that the capital request for the music instructional space would not be going forward on the ballot, and the reasons would be addressed by the School Committee at its meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, April 4.
Reached for comment Tuesday morning, Assistant Superintendent Jim Amoroso confirmed that due to a concern with the wording of the warrant article, the town's bond counsel and the School Department's legal counsel had advised against going forward at this time.
The details, he explained, were included in Scipione's letter to make the Board of Selectmen aware of the decision and had just occurred days before when the School Department's legal counsel reviewed the wording of the warrant article, as is a regular practice prior to printing the ballots for the May vote.
"The specific issues are the percent of interest earned on the investment of funds and the timeline allowed for the expenditure of the YMS construction project funds," Scipione explained in his letter. "Based on the uncertainty on these issues and the potential impact of how this is presented to the voters, I have made the decision to pull this article from the ballot."
Amoroso echoed Scipione's sentiment that until the questions are answered, the request would cause confusion at the polls, as the plan approved by the town's Capital Committee called for funding the majority of the project from existing money earmarked for such uses as construction projects.
"By delaying we will be able to have our attorneys address the problem and we can then submit a credible request to the voters," Scipione wrote. "There may be the possibility for having the request for music instructional space before the voters in November. I have asked the attorney to explore this possibility and he will do so."
Both Scipione and Amoroso noted that the necessity of holding off on the plan is a disappointment, as the proposal had received the full support of the School Committee and Budget Committee to address the instructional component of last year's York High School Arts Wing addition.
That proposal had failed at the polls by a narrow margin just days after the Mother's Day flood swept through town.
The revised plan calls for an addition to meet the instructional space needs for instrumental and vocal music, with the ability to later add a new auditorium should voters approve such a move at a future date.
The selectmen took no action related to the warrant article as it was removed from the ballot prior to the meeting. The board did, however, give its full support to every other capital and budget request on the May warrant, save one.
The selectmen voted unanimously against Article 44, a request by the Budget Committee to fund a recording secretary and allow small stipends for committee members, as are currently in place for selectmen and School Committee members.
The selectmen said they were not against the idea, but the process of adding the request to the warrant.
"The problem for me is, if we're going to pay the Budget Committee a stipend, I believe the Zoning Board of Appeals ought to have a stipend … the Planning Board ought to have a stipend," Bardwell said, explaining there should be a policy discussion first. "… I have a real problem with the way this was done."
