By Devon Cormier
Staff Writer

Residents will vote on Tuesday, March 8, on using money for renovations at Underhill School, the budget and other items.

The school district ballot calls for close to $1 million in unused funds left over from the construction of Cawley and Memorial schools to be used to fix Underhill School.

Repairs at Underhill would include the heating and ventilation system, asbestos removal, a sprinkler system, tile and floor replacements, electrical work and a roof upgrade among other things. The repairs are expected to cost between $700,000 and $900,000, and the remainder of the money would go to repairs at the School Administrative Unit 15 building.

The building is more than 20 years old and rotting wood is ruining windows while ice dams cause leaks throughout the building. Hooksett owns the Farmer Road building that houses SAU 15, but Auburn and Candia pay rent to Hooksett for their shared use of the building. The deliberative session of the School District Meeting proved that residents had angst over footing the entire bill for the SAU building, but officials said that, since Hooksett owns the building, Hooksett must pay for repairs.

An amendment by residents added wording that clearly prioritizes the Underhill School as the recipient of the money before it can be used on the SAU.

Operating budget
Residents will also vote on an operating budget of $21,744,339. Part of the costs involve a new school bus for about $36,000, increasing health insurance costs and more teachers. If the budget fails, the default budget has been calculated at $21,180,599.

The school board estimates that if all warrants pass, the school portion of the tax rate will be $10.64 per $1,000 of assessed property value. That is a 2.5 percent increase over last year.

Saving up
Other warrants recommended by the school board include placing $25,000 of surplus money in a special education expendable trust fund. That annual warrant article includes money for children who need special services or out-of-district placements. It has to be funded, but is hard to predict costs for such services.

The school board also recommends putting $10,000 into a fund for unanticipated building repairs. The Cawley and Memorial schools are new and another warrant article asks to use money to fix up the Underhill School; however, there is no guarantee the article will pass. About $10,000 has been spent in unanticipated repairs, mostly for the Underhill School, the past four years.

Petitions
Two petitioned warrant articles were submitted by budget committee member Bryan Williams as well. Neither are recommended by the school board. One asks that residents vote to move the date of the deliberative session to March and the actual voting day to April. Williams said it would be helpful for voters and the budget committee to see the impact of both the school and town budgets, which is impossible now because the town holds its annual meeting in May.

Williams also submitted a warrant article asking that the power to determine the default budget be taken from SAU 15 and given to the budget committee. Williams said a difference in interpretation of the laws governing what can and can’t be in a default budget caused the petitioned article.

Candidates
There is one contested race for school board. Voters must choose two school board members from among Scott Barker, Joanne McHugh and Brian Q. Schwartz. Each one elected will serve a three-year term.

Voting day is Tuesday, March 8, at the Cawley School from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.