Board of Directors to Consider $30 Million in Referendum Spending Tonight

When the Manchester Board of Directors meets tonight, it will hold public hearings on a pair of items that could see the town spend more than $30 million on capital improvements and to construct a new fifth/sixth grade academy for the town's public school students. 

The first of the two public hearings is on the fifth/sixth grade academy, which would see a combination of the the existing Elisabeth M. Bennet Academy with the neighboring Cheney Building to form a fifth/sixth grade academy at the cost of $20.265 million (the town would be eligible for reimbursement from the state for about $10 of the total costs). 

That agenda item reads as follows: 

"Resolution appropriating $20,265,000 to the capital accounts of the 2013/2014 budget for school system improvements including the renovation and expansion of Cheney-Bennet School Academy, design and facility study services for the renovation and/or expansion of Washington and/or Robertson schools, and school system-wide security enhancements and authorizing the issue of $20,265,000 bonds of the town to finance said appropriation and pending the issuance thereof the making of temporary borrowings for such purpose." 

The second public hearing on potential bonding items would be for $10 million worth of municipal referendum projects, including road paving, park renovations and sidewalk repairs. 

That agenda item reads as follows: 

"Resolution appropriating $10,000,000 to the capital accounts of the 2013/2014 budget for planning, acquisition and construction of roads, sidewalks, bridge and drainage improvements, traffic and parking upgrades, and cheney hall hvac replacement, and authorizing the issue of $10,000,000 bonds of the town to finance said appropriation and pending the issuance thereof the making of temporary borrowings for such purpose."

The Board of Directors will meet at 7 p.m. in the Lincoln Center Hearing Room at 494 Main St. The full agenda can be viewed here.