BUCKLAND — Finance Committee member Larry Langford floated the possibility of holding a public forum in advance of the Oct. 6 vote on funding for the proposed new Franklin County Technical School building during this week’s Selectboard meeting.
Langford told the Selectboard that the forum would look at four different scenarios that the town of Buckland could face based on the results of the districtwide vote. Regardless, he said “the proposed structure is not something that the town can afford.”
“We’re going to be contesting emotion with logic, and that’s always a tough conversation to have with people,” Langford continued. “It’s like if your car is old and needs replacing, you’d love to get that Mercedes, but, ‘Too bad, we can’t afford it, son.'”
The proposed 211,075-square-foot school building is estimated to cost a total of $236.6 million, with the district’s 19 member towns paying $122.8 million using a 30-year bond. A maximum reimbursement of $113.8 million, or 66.27% of the total project cost, will come from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).
The first scenario would be that the vote passes and all of Franklin Tech’s member towns find a way to pay for it, which Langford thinks is relatively unlikely. The second scenario would be that the vote passes, and certain towns, Buckland included, are unable to afford their capital assessments, which Langford said is “a possibility.”
If this second scenario were to happen, an option could be to withdraw as members of the district and have Buckland’s students pay an out-of-district tuition. Langford said this would shift the cost to a smaller pool of towns.
“If we withdrew, for example,” Langford said, “our share of those capital assessments would be borne by the remaining towns.”
The third scenario isn’t a scenario in itself, but more of an add-on to the first two. Langford said that if a lender was to give the town a loan, there would be a reasonable fear that the town could default, which could in turn lead to higher premiums. If this were to happen, Langford would like to know what the rate of the premium would be.
The fourth scenario is that the new building isn’t approved, which would put Franklin Tech back at square one.
“My sense is, the vote might fail if enough of the voters in the district understand the economics of this decision versus the emotional appeal,” Langford said. “[Franklin Tech is] going to have a lot of compelling arguments for building the new school. But, in fairness to the taxpayers in the town of Buckland, I don’t think we should support this.”
Selectboard Chair Joan Livingston suggested a forum date of mid-September, so that it’s not months away from the actual vote, but also not too close.
Langford had a similar idea, saying that when it becomes back-to-school time, people will be thinking about education and school buildings.
“The more we spread the word on this, the smarter people will be,” Langford said. “I just worry that the taxpayers can’t afford it.”
