By Judith Dionne
Staff Writer

At what can only be described as a warp-speed bond hearing on Thursday, Feb 3, the Candia School Board approved the details of a warrant article for a bond for the proposed additions to Moore School. The article will be presented to voters at Town Meeting in March.

School board member Bill Zarges read the article for the proposed additions, which now checks in at $5,982,000, a $382,000 increase over the numbers shared at an informational meeting held by the facilities committee on Jan. 19.

“The increase came after we sat down with Bonnett, Page and Stone and the construction company,” said Zarges. “We have increases in site work and they recommended major overhauls to the mechanical systems including HVAC (heat, ventilation and air conditioning).”

The plan brings the first-year tax increase to a $117.50, based on property valued at $250,000, said Zarges adding that the year-two increase is the largest, coming in at $352.50 for that same example home.

“This (year two) is the biggest hit on the bond,” said Zarges. “The amount is still less than $30 a month though.”

Zarges then said the year five increase would be $310 on tax bills, then down to $255 at year 10, and $150 on year 20 taxes.

“These are the worst-case scenario numbers,” he said. “The projections are based on 4.99 percent on the bond through the New Hampshire bond bank. We think we can bond better – like Citizens Bank is at 4.25 percent right now.”

A better rate will make the tax hit smaller for the town, said Zarges. At the School District Meeting, the board will present the numbers based on the 4.99 percent because they want residents to see the highest projections.

This way, Zarges said, there will be no unpleasant surprises for taxpayers later on.

Becaue no one spoke against the bond at the hearing, school board Chairman Karen Smith thanked the facilities committee. She said the forums leading up to the hearing made voters so well informed they didn’t need to attend the bond hearing.

“There’s so much information out there about the school, I think people didn’t feel they needed to come tonight,” said Smith. “The facilities committee did such a good job getting information out to the people they had all their questions answered ahead of time.”

Although the unopposed bond hearing made board members supporting the renovations feel positive about the proposed project, school board member Ingrid Byrd doesn’t share their enthusiasm.

She said the project is too much and most of the proposed changes are unnecessary.

“The new classrooms are primarily for special education and science labs,” said Byrd. “I just don’t think we need new science labs. I’d like to know what happened to the science lab we built for this school when we added on the middle school years ago.”

The library is of concern to Byrd. She did say she is aware space keeps being taken from it and knows this is a real problem for students and needs to be addressed.

However, she pointed out that the town’s library, which sits behind the school, is a great resource the school should be using.

“When I taught in the Salem school system I used to walk my kids to the Salem library. It was about two miles from the school,” said Byrd. “By doing this, I was using a great resource and I was also getting them used to using a library. Why can’t we use this resource that is a minute’s walk from our school?”

She also said the sweeping changes proposed to the fairly new office spaces and music room of the school are unnecessary.

“They want to make major renovations to a portion of the school that’s not even paid for yet,” said Byrd. “I actually wanted two warrant articles –one for the gym, corridor and library, and a second for the rest.”

Despite Byrd’s efforts to bond only what she and many residents in town feel are the portions of the school that are of concern, the final decision will be left to voters at the March 19 School District Meeting.