BY JENNIFER McDOWELL
Candia School Board members ratified the tuition agreement for the proposed Candia/Auburn middle school on Thursday, Nov. 1, after a public forum at Moore School at which the projected tax impact for the new school was presented.
Candia school board members voted 4-1 to accept the agreement. Auburn’s board will vote on Tuesday, Nov. 13.
Plans for the school have been in the works for over a year now, after both school boards pursued other measures in previous years to expand their schools and improve their educational programming.
If the vote in Auburn passes, the tuition agreement will go to the state Department of Education for review and approval to make sure it complies with all applicable laws and regulations. Members of both boards hope to get the agreement placed on the agenda for the next school board meeting in December.
At Candia’s vote in March, residents will decide whether to pass the tuition agreement. Voters will have the opportunity to further weigh in on the agreement during the deliberative session of School District Meeting in February, said Candia School Board member Ed Caito.
“We know the time line we have to be under,” Caito said at the public forum.
Should the article pass in Candia, Auburn will vote on a general obligation bond for the school of about $29.7 million to cover the capital costs plus interest for both towns. Candia’s tuition payments will pay for its portion, and Auburn will make payments on the bond itself.
The tuition agreement between the two towns offers Candia teachers first consideration for positions at the new school, protections for both towns should either pull out of the agreement before the 20-year bond period is up, and explains the governance of the proposed school.
Less an anticipated 40 percent in state aid for the project, the school is expected to cost $14.8 million for building and site costs.
Tax impact
The tax impact, based on current assessed value of homes in both towns and projected up to year six of the bond schedule, is less for both in the first year, when only one payment would be made.
In subsequent years, each town would make two payments per year.
For the first capital cost payment, projected in February of 2009, Candia’s payment amounts to $296,707, translating to a school tax increase of 80 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
Candia residents owning homes assessed at $300,000 would see an increase of $240 in their tax bill in the first year, using those figures, which includes capital costs only. The second year accounts for the biggest increase, $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed value. That amounts to an estimated $639 for residents in $300,000 homes.
The tax impact for Auburn residents is a little less than that of Candia’s because of Auburn’s greater population and number of homes, which lessens the per household impact.
Auburn residents would see an increase of 71 cents per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year of the bond schedule. Those owning $300,000 homes will take on a total increase of $213 in the first year. In the second year, the increase jumps to $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed value, bringing the dollar increase for those in $300,000 homes to $573 per year.
Year two of the bond schedule, said School Board Chairman Karen Smith, sees the deepest impact because the bond payments for both towns are bigger in that year than in any of the others.
Costs
The tax impact numbers are based on the capital cost estimates for both towns and do not yet include Candia’s tuition, using current enrollment to calculate the percentage each town will pay.
Candia is projected to absorb 38 percent of the total project costs and Auburn 62 percent, but those figures will likely change by 2010.
Using those percentages, Candia would pay $11.3 million and Auburn $18.4 million over the 20-year bond schedule in capital costs and interest.
Tuition is not included in the projections, said SAU 15 Business Administrator Karen Lessard, because it will be incorporated into the school operating budgets for both towns.