SRHS floating $50M referendum in Sept.
Sending towns to vote on building plan Sept. 26
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

Voters in four sending towns will vote on a $50 million referendum to upgrade Shore Regional High School.

Voters in the Shore Regional High School's four sending communities will be asked to approve a nearly $50 million bond construction referendum next month to improve facilities at the grade-nine-through-12 campus.

The district-wide referendum that was sanctioned by the Shore Regional High School Board of Education in June is scheduled for Sept. 26, according to district Business Administrator Stephen J. Brennan.

Polls will be open from 3 to 9 p.m. on that date in West Long Branch, Oceanport, Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright - the district's four sending towns.

Should a majority of voters from all four municipalities greenlight the bond referendum, the state-financed New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. (NJSCC) would kick in almost $18 million, or about 36 percent of the total, Brennan said.

The maximum monetary aid offered by the NJSCC, which is overseen by the state Department of Education, is about 40 percent.

Broken down, the referendum totals $49,797,221. The state's share, contingent on voter approval, would be $17,835,162, leaving a balance or debt service of $31,962,059 to be paid off by taxpayers via a 30-year bond.

That debt service could turn out to be less, depending on the amount of interest that the district can accrue from money it now has in trust for the construction, Brennan pointed out.

The district is still waiting to hear from the state education department as to what the interest rate would be on the bond, he added.

Each of the sending communities would be responsible for picking up their share of the debt service, which would be proportional to how much of the tax burden it carries for school year budgets, Brennan explained.

Based on the adopted $12.1 million budget for academic year 2006-07 and current enrollment, West Long Branch, which sends the most students to the school, would carry more than a third of the burden, or 36 percent, Brennan predicted.

Oceanport, with the second highest number of students, would take on about 27 percent, and Monmouth Beach would carry 24 percent, he continued.

Sea Bright, which last year sent about 20 students to the district, would take on 12 percent of the total debt service.

The exact tax dollar amounts that property owners in each of the four towns would be billed over the life of the debt has not been determined yet, he added.

Property owners in each of the towns pick up a different percentage of each year's annual district budget based on net taxable valuation in their municipality under a formula determined by the state education department.

The formula is based on average assessed valuation in each municipality and the number of students sent to the district high school.

A district newsletter dated July 2006 has been mailed to all property owners in the four towns to alert voters of the referendum date and to provide details of what items are included in the construction, Brennan said.

The district's Community Facilities Task Force, a group of about 30 parents, teachers, students, business leaders and residents, decided to pursue a construction referendum in December.

The task force agreed that any referendum should not call for a property tax increase of more than $250 annually, according to Brennan.

The public was notified about the task force's monthly meetings through newsletters sent home, ads in local newspapers, the district Web site and at school board meetings.

With the new year, the task force's suggestion for the construction referendum was reviewed by the 10-member school board, which has representatives from each of the sending municipalities.

After submitting a proposal to the state education department this past spring, the board received a go-ahead, along with the cost estimates from Trenton, Brennan continued.

"In June, the board decided to go with the referendum," he said.

The project architect is Massa Montalto Architects, Neptune, a firm that has worked with other district building projects, Brennan said.

The construction plan on the school, which Brennan estimated is about 40 years old, calls for upgrades to the building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, boilers, piping and distribution systems and temperature controls, and to lighting and ceilings, and fire safety equipment, according to a copy of the district newsletter.

Improvements to make the entire facility compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are also on the order.

In addition, existing classrooms, science laboratories and music rooms would be upgraded, as would the building's technology, the newsletter states.

A new auditorium, larger parking area, improvements to the athletic fields and an expanded gymnasium along with renovations to the media center and cafeteria are the other wish-list items listed in the newsletter.

"The specific renovations would address heating, lighting, ventilation and a reconfiguration of the classroom spaces to accommodate the suggested state model for a grade-nine-through-12 high school [and] to improve building operations and increase efficiency," the newsletter reads.

At present, there is no debt service on the school or its campus, Brennan said.

Residents of all sending communities are invited to two upcoming open houses at the school scheduled for Sept. 12 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on Sept. 21 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

At that time, district administrators, the architect and bond counsel will be available to discuss the referendum.

A building tour open to residents will be offered on Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The school board's next public meeting is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 24 inside the building's media center.