Brockport, N.Y. — On Thursday, tax payers in Brockport voted to support a $19.5 million bond issue for capital improvement projects.
The plan calls for repairs to the roofs and pipes at all of the district’s five schools. In addition Oliver Middle school will get a new bus loop and parking lot to help ease safety and traffic concerns and Barclay School will get a new library addition.
District officials say the improvements are desperately needed.
“Similar to your house, you need to do your driveway or reseal your driveway,” says Darrin Winkley, the assistant superintendent for business at Brockport Central Schools. “Except this [capital improvement plan] is on a bigger scope. We have over 850,000 square feet of buildings on campus. There is a lot of work you go through.”
According to the district, 90.4 percent of the $19.5 million will be funded through state aid. Local tax payers will foot the rest of the bill.
The tax levy will increase 1.16%. Someone who owns a $100,000 home will end up paying an additional $23 a year in taxes for the next 17 years.
The district says now was the optimal time to ask voters for the capital improvement projects because of all of the state aid the district qualified for and because of low interest rates.
However, not everyone agrees. 13WHAM News spoke to some voters who said given the economic times, taxes shouldn’t be going up. Some retirees on a fixed income said $23 a year may not seem like much, but maintained that for them, every penny did truly count.
Many people like William Fitzgerald support the plan.
“It's needed repairs,” he says. “If they don't do them now they will cost more in the future. The state funding is available at this point so [the plan] is good to do it.”
