At the Board of Education’s special meeting on Oct. 1, a presentation on the proposed bond referendum was made to the board as well as the public.
This presentation was put together after the Long Range Planning Committee with its own recommendations after it reviewed the recommendations of the administration and the architects.
“The Long Range Planning Committee is now presenting (its recommendations) to the full board and the public for the full board to take into consideration,” Business Administrator Christopher Oberg said.
The proposed total estimated costs of all of the projects recommended for the bond referendum are $51.2 million. The estimated tax impact for the average homeowner, with a home assessed at $484,226, would be $329.59 a year.
“These are preliminary numbers we are working with. We are having an independent cost estimation firm review all of the cost estimates we have been given to verify that they are reasonable,” Oberg said.
Review of facilities
A facilities assessment was kick-started by the availability of a Regular Operating District grant in 2013 and $1.4 million in capital reserve. Internal assessments, repairs and upgrades were not made before then due to a lack of funding to open the buildings and look at them internally, according to Superintendent Richard Perry. The schools had been doing regular inspections and maintenance, but mostly to the exterior.
Last April, the BOE asked school architect Steven A. Becica and his engineers to review the district’s facilities in terms of mechanical systems, electrical systems, exterior needs, foundations, brick and roofing.
“In conjunction with the ROD grants, because there was so much discussion, the board determined that we would have a complete investigation. That is where all of the sudden we identified there were problems,” Perry said.
The findings included:
• Building envelope: damaged masonry, eroding mortar joints and corroded lintels; stability issues in the masonry walls, stone elements and parapets; deteriorating wood trim with peeling paint; problem roof areas; and windows past their useful life, not compliant with current thermal performance code standards, and with upper sash stability issues.
• HVAC: inefficient and outdated heating plant controls; select HVAC units with outdated technology and multiple repairs operating past life cycle expectancies; air conditioning not provided in all instructional spaces; and inadequate electrical service and distribution for additional HVAC and classroom equipment loads
• Special systems: Obsolete telephone systems, public address and master clock systems (three generations behind current technology and inability to replace broken parts)
• Accessibility and current code compliance: non-ADA compliant barrier-free route to main building entrance at HMHS; uneven sidewalks along accessible route; chimneys not in compliance with National Fire Protection Associates guidelines; and non-accessible toilet rooms or not provided on each floor with classrooms.
During the investigations by the district’s architect and engineers, it was also discovered there were emergency structural concerns at Tatem Elementary School and Haddonfield Memorial High School, and they were immediately addressed for safety. Tatem’s issues and the temporary fixes at the HMHS were paid for by the capital reserve fund.
Some of the challenges the facilities face are building age, multiple additions, patchwork upgrades and varying educational conditions, plus a limited capital reserve and a 2 percent cap on yearly budget increases.
“With our 2 percent caps, we are very limited in terms of the financial support that we need in order to maintain our curriculum, programs and staffing. So there is very minimal room to save for these large capital project issues. The needs are in the millions of dollars, and there is just no way we can save that out of our annual operating budget,” Perry said.
“These came about from natural deterioration and weathering. These are just things we are facing. It is not anyone’s fault and not something we can address with regular maintenance because these are internal, large-scale structural and systems issues that only can be handled by a major bond referendum and enlisting the help of numerous professionals and engineers,” Perry said.
Proposed bond referendum
The proposed total estimated costs of $51.2 million and the average estimated annual tax impact of $329.59 are preliminary numbers.
“We are having an independent cost estimation firm review all of the cost estimates we have been given to verify that they are reasonable,” Oberg said.
The proposed referendum would have three questions for residents. Question 1 is for the majority of the work, including building envelopes, HVAC, electrical service and distribution, telephone/public address/clock systems and the HMHS A-wing crawl space/piping and program renovations. The total cost for Question 1 is $44.7 million with an estimated tax impact of $277.23 per year.
Question 2 is for the HMHS cafeteria expansion and HMS classroom renovations. The total cost for Question 2 is $5 million with an estimated tax impact of $40.78 per year.
“The cafeteria is very small for the size of the student population we have. We have to repair the cafeteria anyway. To go a little further and expand it allows administrators to be creative with schedules, strengthen programs and teacher contact with students,” Perry said.
Question 3 is for the track and stadium upgrades. The total cost for Question 3 is $1.4 million with an estimated tax impact of $11.58 per year.
“The stadium is similar to our buildings. Internally it is decaying, the concrete and the steel. All of the stadiums that were built during the 1930s, Palmyra’s, Collingswood’s, Audubon’s, Haddonfield’s, they were all built during the same time. All of the other school systems, as far as I know, have all passed bond referendums to repair the internal part of them, except Haddonfield,” Perry said. “The track, at eight years, has gone through its life cycle. We’ve already had problems with it bubbling and deteriorating.”
The reason the track is put on the referendum is because it is eligible for debt service. If the district doesn’t do it, then it has to pay the full cost.
According to Perry, there are many possible means available to the school district to alleviate the overall tax impact — by way of debt service aid, utilization of the ROD grants and staggering bonds over multiple years, allowing for a gradual tax impact.
The board is looking for an approval for the bond referendum at an Oct. 8 meeting at 7 p.m. in the high school library, however a special meeting might be planned if the Oct. 8 meeting is not enough time. The district would like to go out for a January bond referendum so it can start the bidding process and go through the other stages to begin work in the summer if voters approve. If the school district waits until March, it will have to wait until the next year to start work.
The presentation given at the Oct. 1 BOE meeting can be found at www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us/. For a video of the Oct. 1 meeting go to the Haddonfield Civic Association’s Vimeo at vimeo.com/user2961532.
