State aid offer for new Boquet Valley school building falls short

ELIZABETHTOWN | After some 18 months of waiting, Boquet Valley Central School District heard back from New York State Education Department officials about how much aid they would provide for a new school building. Their figure did not come in at 91 percent as planning and review with State Ed had suggested. School Superintendent Joshua R. Meyer met with officials numerous times over the past six months, challenging their early aid calculations. The last meeting with State Education Commissioner Dr. Betty A. Rosa put the final offer at 55.6 percent. "We filed a submission to State Ed in early March 2021," Meyer said. "It took about 18 months before the district heard back." Pauses in project review, he said, were due to the COVID-19 pandemic, because people were not meeting together, working remotely instead. The final amount of aid available from the state sits at $34,387,656, which would have been a larger percentage of initial building cost estimates around $50 million. But delay and supply/demand struggles, plus rising costs for materials and labor have pushed the price for a new school building in Lewis to $61,859,000. The local share would be $27,471,344 to build on a 75-acre parcel of county property at Thrall Dam in Lewis. 'ELIGIBLE PARTS' "The state is providing 91 percent aid on 'eligible' parts of the new building," Meyer said of how discussions boiled down. "This was not written in fine print. There was no fine print. "'Eligible' not include common areas outside, like parking lots, roads or sidewalks. The auditorium space does not qualify for 91 percent aid. The cafeteria does not qualify for 91 percent aid, because it's not used for instruction. Due to the student numbers, we qualify for one small gym. We fought it and got a new gym about the same size as the Westport gym." State Ed said Boquet Valley qualified for two science classrooms, but Meyer fought that, too. "We got four science classrooms. Our STEM programs are central to the district program." Building Aid Units are what the state uses to determine how much they will pay. Meyer did meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul's office in March, seeking full coverage as outlined in consult with State Ed four years ago. There is a wild chance that this could result in bullet aid addition from New York State. "The state has given Building Aid Units to the big five: Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Yonkers and Utica schools," Meyer said. "We also asked the state to reset the clock on the merger incentive program. We have set aside $5 million in capital reserve from the incentive aid. It was the amount we expected the community to pay for new construction at 91 percent state building aid." Boquet Valley Central School is one of very few districts in the state with no building debt. While that may appear to be a good thing, it actually works against the state tax levy cap formula. Debt service actually supports a lower tax rate because the community is in the process of paying it off. "Building projects offset other costs," Meyer said. ALL STUDENTS IN ONE PLACE The primary goal for a new Boquet Valley school building is to bring all district students into one facility, onto one elementary, middle and high school campus with centrally located athletic fields, Meyer said. That goal has not changed. Currently, Boquet Valley has two facilities, the Lake View campus in Westport and the Mountain View campus in Elizabethtown. Pulling the entire student body together would build efficiency into teaching, transportation, administrative, technology, athletic and food service programs. A school building in one location would not mean job cuts, either. There are challenges as it is finding staff for the Westport cafeteria, for example. "When we have an administrator out, the district has to hire an administrative substitute," Meyer said. "And that is very expensive." Busing students to athletic fields in Westport is also not cost effective. "With the new facility, they could walk out of the school door onto the field." To expand either the Lake View or the Mountain View building to fulfill State Ed requirements is far more costly than the $27.5 million local share for new construction. Expansion at one site or the other does not qualify for much in state aid, Meyer said. Estimates to renovate the building in Elizabethtown (built in 1951) to state standards is $55 million. Estimates to renovate the building in Westport (built in 1933) to state standards is $62 million. And neither has enough property for athletic fields. "With less aid, and because it's not all new construction, you would have a shorter finance period. The initial tax impact would be more than proposed with the new building," Myer said. Tax impact of the proposed new building project in Lewis could increase school taxes by $2.93 per thousand dollars of real property value, an increase of 22.9 percent. "The other option is to do nothing," Meyer said. "But there are problems with the buildings. And one goal with the merger was to put all of the kids together." COMMUNITY DISCUSSION The school is redoubling its effort to plan forums with residents, taxpayers and the school community. "We definitely want to hear community thoughts and concerns, and certainly to address misunderstandings," Meyer said. Enrollment stands steady at around 400, and last year's graduating class was 44 students, a bubble year. Information sessions on how best to proceed will start up again next fall, ahead of a formal referendum vote before year's end. On June 1, Meyer sent a letter to district homes ensuring transparency. "In our upcoming communications, we will provide a thorough analysis of the costs involved in renovating our existing campuses versus building a new one at the Thrall Dam site. We firmly believe the latter is the best option for securing our district's future. Your involvement, understanding, and support are essential to this project's success. We greatly appreciate your engagement and patience during this time and look forward to sharing more updates soon."

Signup for our newsletter

State aid offer for new Boquet Valley school building falls short

COMPANY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUBMISSION FORMS

BEYOND THE NEWS