Saugus board OKs debt exclusion vote for Belmonte upgrade

SAUGUS – After the Board of Selectmen approved the ballot question to renovate the Belmonte Middle School Tuesday night, Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said Wednesday that November?s debt exclusion vote could be the town?s last chance to upgrade the school.?Hopefully they?ll accept it,” said Bisignani. “We?re not going to get another chance in the near future to improve our schools.”The Belmonte repair project will cost $18.9 million, 51 percent of which will be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The rest of the roughly $9 million remaining will be paid for if voters pass a debt exclusion, which would see the tax levy for the average-price home increase by around $60 starting in 2016 and steadily decreasing over the course of 20 years.Bisignani said a debt exclusion is needed because the town can only raise its tax levy by a maximum of 2.5 percent per year.?Obviously 2.5 percent isn?t enough to pay the debt service,” said Bisignani. “The voters will have the opportunity to exclude that amount of money on their tax levy.”The Belmonte school was built in 1964 and among the repairs planned are improvements to the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing systems, upgrades to the windows and building facades and new interior lighting along with electrical and energy efficiency improvements.Bisignani said the overall tax levy will decrease by 2018, two years after the current proposed debt exclusion would kick in, because a previous debt exclusion for the town?s $20 million capital improvement plan from 1998 will be ending.With the state ready to pitch in more than half of the project costs, Selectman Stephen Horlick said the time is right for voters to act.?I think people are going to look at it as something that is long overdue,” said Horlick. “Right now the help from the state is there and that?s the big factor too. This is an opportunity that the town shouldn?t pass by.”The Belmonte Middle School Building Committee voted to approve the schematic design for the project at its meeting in mid-August, and developers submitted the final design the MSBA on August 19.School Committee member Arthur Grabowski said fellow committee members along with the Board of Selectmen plan to hold a joint meeting to discuss the project with the public, and said plans are already in place to start publicizing the project. This weekend Grabowski said there will be booth at Founders? Day with information and in the coming months there will be presentations to various civic groups around Saugus as well as at open houses at the schools.?We?re going to try to hit every group of people together? so they can make an informed decision rather than just hearing it piecemeal,” said Grabowski. “We?ll go over it in as much detail as we can without boring everybody.Details about the project are posted on the Saugus School District website and on the town?s website.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter at @MattTempesta.