Fin Com Narrowly Supports Pollard Project
• In a 5-4 vote at its Wednesday meeting, the Finance Committee recommended adoption of the Pollard Middle School construction funding, estimated at nearly $245 million.
Members of the committee took turns sharing their individual votes and rationales, a process that took more than an hour before a crowded room at the Emery Grover Building. Given the cost of the project, many signaled their hesitance with allowing residents to incur higher taxes as a result.
Totaling $322.6 million, the project is expected to receive a maximum reimbursement of $80.6 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The estimated remaining balance, about $242 million, will come from borrowing if Special Town Meeting approves the article on Oct. 19. Town Meeting previously approved $2.75 million toward the project.
Chair Barry Coffman called it “an unprecedented expense.” The average single-family home would pay an additional $1,167 annually over 35 years. That tax bill would peak in FY 2034 at a $2,065 increase.
Carol Smith-Fachetti weighed the pros and cons, noting the tax burden with the needs of Needham students and the current costs with future, potentially higher ones. She called it a “really hard issue,” “reluctantly” throwing her support behind it.
“The increased debt that we are going to incur to fund this project will, in a good way, kinda put us in crisis mode,” Smith-Fachetti said, “and maybe it will force discussions, heated discussions, discussions where we’re not always going to agree, but perhaps where the best decisions bubble to the floor and nobody’s 100% happy, but the best decisions are made that way.”
Smith-Fachetti was joined by Coffman, Vice Chair Paul O’Connor, Tina Burgos and Ali Blauer in favor. Jit Basak, Steve Maxwell, John Connelly and Joe Abruzzese voted against, signaling the significant debt burden.
For Connelly, the size, cost, “burden on the taxpayer” and impact on the town’s financial position factored into his decision to oppose the article. He said he doesn’t support the current footprint and design of the school and said he thinks the town failed to consider ongoing debt and debt policies.
“Then, you design for what you can afford to build. Here, we did the opposite,” Connelly said. “Here, we did a design without any budget in mind, and now we’ve ended up in this place where we have a beautifully designed school… but because it wasn’t designed to a budget, we’re left with something like — we have a great school, but we can’t afford what we designed.”
The new Pollard would combine the existing seven and eighth graders with sixth graders, who are currently housed at High Rock School. High Rock would, afterward, be able to revert to an elementary school.
During public comment, the committee heard from several residents all in favor of the plan, who spoke about the school’s larger auditorium and promise of state funds with an expiration date.
Former Select Board and School Committee member Marianne Cooley, wearing a “Pollard Now” button, walked the committee back through some of the early discussion about the project. Other financing options will be available in the future, she said.
Costs will only rise, resident Chris Lalonde said, so the town shouldn’t “kick the can down the road.”
Performing arts student Miles Yountz, a Needham High School senior, said he supports an updated theater space, given the inadequacies of those at NHS and the Newman Elementary School.
“This is the perfect opportunity to allow the students of the Needham Public Schools’ Fine and Performing Arts Department to have an auditorium space that matches the quality and size of our program, an opportunity that we failed to utilize when renovating the high school [in 2006].”
Pollard’s auditorium generated significant scrutiny, as it isn’t eligible for reimbursement by the MSBA. Some also took objection to the scale of the auditorium, which would hold 750 people, an increase from 434.
If the Town Meeting vote fails, Needham voters will still vote for the ballot question regarding a potential debt override exclusion that would enable the project. If voters support the question, the town will consider reconvening Town Meeting, Town Manager Katie King said Wednesday.
If the funding is approved at Town Meeting but does not pass at the ballot, “the project does not move forward,” King said.
The Select Board previously voted 4-1 in support of the funding, with Vice Chair Josh Levy voting against. Levy previously served on the Finance Committee.
