Tensions mount as D-Y school vote nears

Dec. 01--The divide is growing between town and school officials who disagree on whether a new Dennis-Yarmouth regional middle school -- which is up for a vote next week -- is in the best interest of both towns.

"To me, it's still a no-brainer," former Dennis Selectman Cleon Turner, who has been an outspoken supporter of the proposal, said Thursday. "I'm disappointed that there's still so much angst about it."

A districtwide election to approve the proposed school is scheduled from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters also will receive a town ballot that seeks approval for a debt exclusion, which would raise property taxes for the term of the loan that would pay for construction. If the proposal fails, the district has 120 days to adjust it and again try to gain support from voters.

The $117 million school is on track to receive about $45.3 million in reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Yarmouth's share of the cost will be about $48.7 million, which is expected to add about $188 to the tax bill for a house with a median value of $293,600. Dennis will pay about $24.2 million, which will add about $96 in taxes for a house with median value of $354,700. The amounts assessed to each town could shift annually along with enrollment, which in the next few years is expected to increase in Yarmouth and decrease in Dennis.

Plans for the building have been in the works for more than two years, since the authority, which initially had been asked to fund renovations to Mattacheese Middle School in West Yarmouth, instead recommended a new regional school for grades 4-7 that would replace Mattacheese and the Nathaniel H. Wixon Innovation School in South Dennis.

Until recently, the strongest pushback against the proposal has come from the Yarmouth selectmen, who maintain that the method of splitting construction costs unfairly burdens Yarmouth taxpayers and that the town should not expand its relationship with Dennis because the district's regional agreement assesses Yarmouth more than its fair share for operating costs.

On Tuesday, Yarmouth officials calling for a "no" vote found an ally in a longtime adversary, the Dennis Finance Committee, which voted unanimously to urge voters to reject the school. A day later, with a 4-2 vote, the Yarmouth Finance Committee also recommended rejecting the project.

Questions over what the towns might do with Mattacheese and Wixon once they are vacated have raised doubts about whether the project has been properly thought out.

For more than a year, the Dennis selectmen failed to address other expenses that could potentially come with closing Wixon, a statement from the Dennis Finance Committee says.

"Ask yourself, would you build a new house and then after it's built try and decide what to do with your old house?" the statement says. "That's poor financial planning."

The statement suggests that, after the new school is approved, Dennis taxpayers could be asked to cough up an additional $40 million for repairs needed to bring Wixon in line with current codes so that students from the aging Ezra H. Baker Elementary School in West Dennis could potentially be relocated.

But Turner and Dennis Board of Selectmen Chairman Paul McCormick said deciding what to do with Wixon -- which, along with Mattacheese, would remain open until the new school is completed in 2021 -- would require input from consultants and citizen committees, and the town decided not to take on those costs and efforts until it was certain Wixon would close.

McCormick confirmed that moving students from Baker to Wixon has been floated as a possibility, but schools Superintendent Carol Woodbury said the idea has not been discussed with school officials.

"There's never even been a conversation in administration and at the School Committee level about that," she said, adding that a substantial amount of money has been spent on improvements to Baker in recent years. "Right now, we're doing just fine with Baker."

Dennis and Yarmouth each have a slew of capital expenses on the horizon, including for wastewater infrastructure; construction of the new Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich; a possible new fire station in Dennis; and a new Department of Public Works facility in Yarmouth.

Finance Committee members want voters to consider those costs Tuesday.

"At present, without any defined additional ways to reduce expenses, the average $400,000 home could see an additional potential increase of over $1,100 in FY 2024," the Dennis committee's statement says.

A statement from the Yarmouth Finance Committee contends that the proposal does not address the fact that Marguerite E. Small Elementary School in West Yarmouth is "in dire need of repair or replacement," and suggests voters consider building a Yarmouth-only school for students in grades K-7.

One thing officials agree on is that regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's vote, a major school project is on the horizon for both towns.

"These two buildings are 50 years old each," Assistant Superintendent Kenneth Jenks said of Wixon and Mattacheese. "Even if they get renovated, they're not going to last another 50 years."

Costs just to bring the buildings in line with current code are estimated at $40 million for Wixon and $42 million for Mattacheese.

Modernizing their technology infrastructure and mechanical systems would be expensive and complicated, according to Jenks. A renovation at Wixon would trigger the need for asbestos abatement, and concrete waffle ceilings at Mattacheese could make improvements extremely difficult.

"In order to put the new mechanical systems in, they would have to lower the ceiling, and then the ceilings would be too low," Jenks said.

Supporters have said repairs would not offer the same longevity or educational benefits as the new school, which is expected to be used for 50 years.

"The design of this school creates a learning environment that's comfortable for students, is technologically up to date, and adaptable for future changes in technology," Turner said.

By abandoning the proposal, the towns would be leaving more than $45 million on the table and rolling the dice on whether the authority would again commit to funding a D-Y project, according to Woodbury.

"The MSBA is not for the faint of heart," she said. "Their process is so challenging."

The district applied at least four years in a row -- often competing in a field of more than 200 candidates -- before it was selected as one of about two dozen districts that would receive financial help for a new school.

In its statement, the Dennis Finance Committee also took aim at the regional school committee for its decision earlier this year not to require prior town meeting approval -- which traditionally has been sought for major D-Y capital projects -- and instead put the decision directly to a districtwide vote.

"We reject their decision and see it as a lack of respect for the town meeting approval process," the statement says.

Woodbury said she worried that the Dennis committee's distaste over the voting method and Yarmouth officials' frustrations with the regional agreement could be clouding the issue.

"They're both saying that they think the school's a good idea, but they're mad about something else," she said. "I have to ask, are those good reasons for not having this project go through? For giving up $45 million? For not giving our kids of the future what they need? It just doesn't make sense to me."

-- Follow Kristen Young on Twitter: @KristenCCT.

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