Letter to the Editor: Please Vote “No” on the New High School’s Debt Exclusion

To the Editor:

Burlington does not need a new high school, a new Fox Hill school, a new Pine Glen school, and a new Shawsheen Tech school. How wasteful to spend millions demolishing and removing buildings versus spending selectively on improvements and additions.

Further, recent investments have been made in the high school: new gym floors, a new stage, a new music room, and an elevator. Could these be preserved during demolition and new construction?

The recklessness of these plans makes no sense given the ages of schools in other towns and that Burlington’s high school enrollment is half that when completed in 1973, declining further with Burlington’s population in recent years (see Burlington’s annual reports).

Burlington’s high school is young at 52 years compared to the high schools below in North Shore towns, whose median age is 67 years.

Town, year completed, age: 

• Burlington 1973 52
• Andover 1968 57
• Concord–Carlisle 1958 67
• Reading 1927 98
• Stoneham 1958 67
• Lexington 1978 47
• Bedford 1955 70
• Billerica 1956 69
• Wilmington 1997 28
• Woburn 2006 19
• Phillips Academy – Andover 1924 101

Burlington’s capital “budgeting” process is troubling.  Rarely if ever are alternatives considered. Note the emphasis on expensive demolition and new construction in all of Burlington’s recent proposals without considering other options, such as upgrades, repairs, and additions.

The ages of the schools above indicate that other towns have emphasized upgrades and additions to buildings rather than demolition and new construction. But when asked about such alternatives, the pat answer is that they would be more expensive, apparently without serious thought or analysis.

A typical response is that building code upgrades would not be economical. But how can building code upgrades exceed the cost of new architectural plans, demolition, and removal of much of the old building? If this were true, the most venerable schools listed above would not be so old.

Below is a partial list of planned capital expenditures. Note that the estimated average household property tax increase appears likely to be over 20%.  Burlington’s residents and taxpayers deserve better.

• Fox Hill School: $70 million (after State reimbursement of $30 million).
• Police Station: $46 million.
• New High School: $340 million.
• Unfunded Pension and OPEB Liability: $91 million (net of $9 million trust fund balance).

TOTAL $547 million @ 4.4% APR for a AAA-rated municipal bond*:

• 10,056 = # of households
• Annual burden per household $3,630.71 = $36.5 million increase in annual cash outflow. (Excel Formula = PMT(rate, nper, pv, fv, type) = $36,510,398 = PMT(0.044,25,547000000,0))
• $7,153.44 annual household property taxes now*
• $3,631 x .5 / $7,153 = 25.4% increase in annual property taxes per household.*
  [Editor's note: The 0.5 factor assumes residents will assume half the increase in taxes, up from the current share of 37%.]

Matt Frost
14 Chadwick Road

*Editor’s notes: Figures and calculations are provided by the author and have not been independently verified by Burlington Buzz. Property tax data are based on the author’s personal assessment records.