Residents to Vote on Surplus Use in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

OLD SAYBROOK - Unanticipated costs in renovating and expanding Old Saybrook High School have prompted a special town meeting on Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the town's middle school auditorium.

Superintendent Joseph Onfrio II said cost overruns were discovered this past summer as the project was in full swing.

"We paid for those out of our operating budget," Onfrio said, adding that this took money away from items usually covered by that budget.

Onfrio said it was important that the district complete as much work as possible this past summer when students were not in the building.

First Selectman Michael Pace believes the district was wise in allowing the overruns to prevent buyer's remorse and that in the long-run it was better to fix necessary items now rather than be forced to do so a few years from now.

According to documents from the Board of Education and Board of Finance, there were several items the district was forced to address while the project was ongoing.

The most expensive items include $140,000 higher than budgeted for asbestos removal, $50,000 in watering of ball fields, a $40,000 cost to remove, patch, and replace terrazzo floor in order to reach a corroding acid waste pipe, $33,400 for removal and replacement of unsafe sidewalks, $21,200 for painting of lockers, and $17,200 for supplies to equip two additional science labs.

The district used capital funds for those projects forcing furniture, technology items, and maintenance portions of the budget to be "frozen" due to lack of money.

According to a memo from Onforio and Julie Pendelton, Director of Operations, Facilities, and Finance for the district, financing is needed for "many planned projects and repairs that have not been completed in the capital plan to date. These items include circulation pumps, heating ventilators, plumbing repairs, handicap hardware, sidewalk repairs, maintenance to fields, irrigation systems, exhaust fans, air conditioning repairs and maintenance, locker room locker repairs, bleacher reconditioning, tennis court and track repairs, tree pruning, and ball field maintenance."

The most expensive items include $70,000 for irrigation, $34,000 for 36 computers for the science department for biology and chemistry, and $30,000 for 32 computers in the World Language Lab.

While the call of the town meeting on Nov. 26 included money for the Board of Education, Pace said, the Board of Finance wanted to specifically allocate how the money would be used.

The call for the Jan. 9 meeting would use money out of the town's unappropriated surplus account based on the unaudited estimate of budget surpluses for the town's fiscal year July 1, 2006 through July 30, 2007.

$49,425 would be used for the Board of Education School Building Project Bonding Costs while $162,473 would be added to the Board of Education 2007-2008 budget.

Residents will be able to see the results of money spent on the school project at the Old Saybrook High School Building Project Grand Opening on Tuesday, February 5 between 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

They will be able to take tours of the building and see recently renovated and expanded portions of the building.

Specifically, Principal Scott Schoonmaker said that the project has allowed the high school to have a new central main entrance with increased security, new administration area, three new science instructional labs, converting five science labs into four larger labs, a renovated auditorium with refurbished seating and superior sound quality, a new language lab, a new life skills room for special education students, and a new music and art suite.

In the end, Schoonmaker said the project added 10,000 square feet to the building, upgraded all windows, lighting, and playing fields, and created a new outdoor quad which will feature picnic tables and benches.

Most of the work for the project has been completed except for some "punch" items for the renovated auditorium which was used for the first time on December 18 for a high school concert.