By Darrell Halen

 The Pelham Budget Committee voted to support the $3 million purchase of approximately 48 acres for a new high school.

But the panel voted against recommending the construction of the new school and an auditorium.

The nine members attending the committee’s Thursday, Dec. 13, meeting voted unanimously to support the land purchase.

The School Board is putting forward a warrant article at the school district meeting in March to purchase the land, which consists of two parcels off Windham Road.

The purchase, which would be paid for with a five-year bond, needs a 60 percent majority to pass.

The committee voted 5-4 to not recommend a $44,665,000 article to construct the new school and to renovate the current high school into a middle school.

The group also voted 5-4 to not recommend a $3,116,000 article for an auditorium for the new high school.

Voting against those two articles were committee chairman John Lavallee, Dennis Viger, Robert Sherman, Dan Guimond and Martha Lowe.

Voting to support them were Doug Viger, the Board of Selectmen representative to the committee, Larry Hall, Joe Puddister and Bruce Couture, who was acting as the School Board’s representative to the committee.

Members Phil McColgan and Greg Farris were not present.

“The land is important. We have to have the land. That’s a valuable asset,” Lavallee said after the meeting.

But Lavallee said he believes the town is better off waiting a year to pursue a new high school. He cited the recent 13 percent increase in the town’s property tax rate, which rose from $13.99 to $15.81 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

In March, voters will see a variety of spending requests in addition to the proposed land purchase, school and auditorium, he said. These will include $4.3 million for a new central fire station, a police union contract, a contract for public works and municipal workers, and requests for more teachers and another police officer.

“I want a new high school in this town. I think we need one but I think it needs to be done next year when things calm down,” Lavallee said. “Everything is raining down on us at one time.”

Lavallee said he also wants to see more details on the new school.

“Let us see what we’re really going to get,” he said.

Couture said he was pleased with the committee’s support of the land purchase. The School

Board has been pursuing a four-school model to alleviate overcrowding.

“I think it reflects what most people realize – (there’s) a space problem (in the schools) and the land is the cornerstone stone of the whole project,” he said of the vote on the land.

On the committee’s votes on the school and auditorium, he added: “I’m disappointed obviously. I think, as an overall plan, you want to get the building (approved) the first year. I understand the hesitancy because of the tax bill that was received, but it’s a project that will only get more expensive every year.”