After several years of negotiations, presentations and opinions, Haddonfield residents could decide the future of the 19.2-acre Bancroft property off of Kings Highway on Tuesday.
Polling hours for the $12.5 million bond referendum are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Haddonfield Public Schools has provided a listing of voting locations in a PDF document on its website.
According to the document, voters in districts 1, 3, 4 and 5 can head to the Middle / Central School gym at Lincoln Avenue and Chestnut Street.
Voters in districts 2 and 10 should stop by the Tatem School music room at 1 Glover Ave.
Districts 6 and 7 can vote at the Elizabeth Haddon School’s art room at 501 Redman Ave.
Those in districts 8 and 9 can vote at the Lutheran Church Parish Hall at 204 Wayne Ave.
If the referendum fails, Bancroft CEO and President Toni Pergolin has said that the institution for students with disabilities will stay in town and begin a $50 million construction project.
“We can’t wait another seven years,” she recently said to The Sun. “We’ve waited a long time. For us, it’s really about modernizing our facilities for our kids.”
Town leaders, such as Mayor Tish Colombi and Superintendent Dr. Richard Perry, have been exuberant in their support for the referendum in recent months.
“The residents of Haddonfield will decide how we move forward with Bancroft,” said Colombi.
To Perry, the referendum would allow space for Haddonfield Memorial High School to grow.
In a recent column he said, “As a Board of Education and school district leaders, we have a responsibility to plan for the future and we are concerned over both our high school and school district being land locked.”
So, what will the cost be to borough residents?
According to the school district’s document, “At the borrowing amount of $12.5 million dollars, discounting for grants or other sources of funds, and based on a 3.3 percent rate over 20 years, the average annual impact will be $189 on the average assessed value for a residential property of $491,345.”
Many residents have voiced opinions through letters to the editor, and some have branched into groups both in support and against the referendum.
One Haddonfield emerged last fall.
“If this referendum for community use is not approved in January, we are back to square one with alternate proposals. In the past some proposals have been for uses totally unacceptable to our community. I am more than ready to put the anxiety and drama of the ‘Bancroft question’ behind us and move forward,” Jack O’Malley, a founder of the group, said in a November statement.
On the opposition, Brian Kelly, founder of Haddonfield United, released a statement in November explaining that the costs associated with the referendum would be too high for residents.
“If approved, the school board’s (now $12.5 million) bond will drive up our local property taxes at a time when many Haddonfield residents are struggling to pay their existing tax bills,” said Kelly in the release. “Supporters of the bond referendum may claim that the property tax increases will be ‘small,’ but our town’s middle-class residents and seniors on fixed incomes would beg to differ, especially in light of the fact that they are already paying twice the state average in property taxes.”
In addition to the potential tax hike, opponents have voiced several reasons why the referendum should be voted down, including the belief that the appraisal rate is inflated, worries for the future of Radnor Field, opinions that the addition of turf is an “extravagance” and future costs that may come from the property.
Learn more about the referendum by visiting www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us/bancroft/, which contains a question and answer section, project plans and further financial information.
Make sure to visit www.HaddonfieldSun.com for up to the minute information surrounding the referendum.
