The East Hampton School Board voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt three bond propositions — worth roughly $128 million — that will appear on the May 19 ballot along with the annual school budget.
The proposals include renovations to all three schools in the district, along with an indoor pool and indoor athletic facility at the high school. Only the second and third propositions will have taxpayer impact. For the first, new debt will replace old as it expires.
“It’s good practice to replace expiring debt with new debt,” Adam Fine, the superintendent, said at the board meeting on Tuesday. “The district has determined that we have $64 million of debt issued between 2028 and 2030 that will create schedules that are essentially equal to the expiring debt. That’s a huge thing and that’s how we started.”
Replacing expiring debt is a common practice that keeps taxes steady and avoids major fluctuations in taxpayer burden. If debt goes unreplaced, taxpayers see a temporary decrease in their taxes, which then spike when capital improvements are needed.
Aware of this upcoming debt expiration and replacement, the district started conversations about a year ago to determine the wants and needs at its three schools and to develop proposals with community input.
“I placed multiple letters in The Star. A survey was sent out — also in The East Hampton Star. We had four bond community forums that were open discussions with the board and the community,” Mr. Fine said. “A list of projects was drawn up from these conversations and was divided into needs and wants, both of which work together to ensure that we are going to be state of the art going forward.”
Proposition One, valued at $64 million, is the one that will not have an impact to taxpayers. At the high school, it includes a new auditorium, concession trailer, outdoor bathrooms, a roof, security upgrades, track resurfacing, baseball bleachers, a cosmetology lab, a jogging track, mechanical upgrades, and new turf field and bleachers, along with a pollinator garden, scoreboards, stadium lights, and tennis courts. The middle school will get a new fire escape enclosure, masonry, mechanical systems, a roof, security upgrades, stairway glass, windows, an auditorium, an English as a new language classroom, a Life Skills classroom, and a science lab. The John M. Marshall Elementary School will see new class bathrooms, a gymnasium sound system and upper window panels, hallway flooring, masonry repair, mechanical upgrades, a roof, security upgrades, a gym floor and stage, a kitchen, and new multipurpose rooms for music and those with sensory needs.
Proposition Two is worth $45.68 million and would fund a new indoor pool at the high school. “There were a lot of discussions with community members and board members about the need to build a pool out here in East Hampton and how important that is to the community and how important swimming and water safety is,” Mr. Fine said.
The price tag for the pool building was originally $43.6 million but was increased by $2 million to cover additional construction costs that became apparent during the planning. “Because of the size of this building, the construction is going to take up basically half of the parking lot,” Sam Schneider, the assistant superintendent for business, explained. “We’re going to need to spend money to move the buses around differently and create a temporary parking lot so we can continue to operate this building as we normally would while we’re doing this construction.”
The pool will have eight lanes and a one-meter diving board suitable for high school competition. It will also have raised bleachers, a handicapped-accessible ramp, and separate locker rooms for students and the community. It will be used for student swimming and water safety instruction. The high school will also offer a program for students who would like to learn about pool development and maintenance as a possible career. The pool will be open to the community outside of school hours, for a fee. The district hopes those fees will help defray the annual maintenance costs of $500,000 to $750,000, which are not included in the bond.
For an average taxpayer with an assessed home value of $6,000, the pool building will cost $203.26 a year for 20 years.
Proposition Three, an indoor athletic facility, will cost $18.5 million, and was also inspired by community input. “People are looking for ways to remedy the fact that there isn’t a lot of indoor gym space. There aren’t a lot of places where people can practice inside when the weather is inclement,” Mr. Schneider said. “So we’re talking about an athletic facility that will have a full-size indoor basketball court, an indoor turf field that will be suitable for practice for a lot of sports that would normally be played outside. Much like the pool, it would be open to the community when it’s non-school hours. It will be used by students during the day as part of their physical education classes.”
For an average taxpayer with an assessed home value of $6,000, the indoor athletic facility will cost $82.53 a year for 20 years.
The propositions are stacked like dominoes. Proposition One needs to pass for Proposition Two to pass. Proposition Two needs to pass for Proposition Three to pass.
“Everything hinges on Proposition One,” Mr. Fine explained. “If that passes, Proposition Two can pass. . . . Proposition Three is contingent on Proposition Two passing. We had to do this. If the community voted down the pool but approved the sports facility, we would not have enough money to put the sports facility in place because we need to attach it to the building. We would’ve had to put bathrooms on it and increase the cost by about $10 million and we didn’t want to do that.”
The full presentation made at the Tuesday board meeting is available on the district’s website and includes additional renderings of the plans for the high school. Before adjourning the meeting, J.P. Foster, the school board president, reminded the community that their input was an essential part of this process and encouraged them to read the proposals, ask any questions they have, and come out and vote. “This is important to move East Hampton forward. This will be like no other. If we can make it better and do better, I think we should.”
Voting on the three propositions will take place from 1 to 8 p.m. on May 19 in the district office at 2 Long Lane. Absentee ballots will also be available.