WILMINGTON — Three residents made the difference between voting in favor and against the creation of a stabilization fund for the Shawsheen Valley Regional Technical High School at the annual Town Meeting this past Saturday.
The article proposing the fund was submitted by the Shawsheen Tech’s School Committee. Due to the town’s by-law where petitioned articles are taken up after articles introduced by the town at random draw, it was one of the last to be considered that day.
Shawsheen Tech Superintendent Director Tony McIntosh explained that there are increasing numbers of capital requests to keep the regional school operating and mechanical systems up to date, as the building is 54 years old. He referenced their ability to save only five percent of the annual budget in an excess and deficiency fund at the end of the year, and everything else must be returned to the communities.
They also can’t collect any interest on the unspent funds currently.
The creation of this fund would allow additional funds to be saved because they could move money here from the excess and deficiency fund. McIntosh explained that the money could only be moved to the stabilization fund with the approval of each town’s Finance Committee or through the budgetary process to Town Meeting.
The Tech School Committee would control the spending of the money in the new fund. He suggested some necessary improvements that it could be used for upcoming including heating, power, lights, and ventilation.
Select Board member Frank West asked for the reasons behind the Finance Committee’s recommendation of disapproval for this article. Finance Committee member Marianne Gallezzo explained that they took issue with the funds shifting to the approval of the Tech School Committee as opposed to Town Meeting.
McIntosh specified that the transfer of money is still approved by Town Meeting, it’s only the spending approved by the vote of the Tech School Committee. While he added that they weren’t planning to use the funds to do something like create a new building, he did say they had applied to the MSBA.
He went on to explain that the number of students enrolled was above the original capacity for which the building was built, and they lacked space to bring on new programs. He also mentioned the main switch gear which was the same age as the school and would cost $1.5 million to replace if it breaks.
Kevin O’Grady asked what amount of money they were requesting be put in and what the other four communities had voted for relative to the creation of the fund. McIntosh said they weren’t asking to move any money into the fund at this time, and that only Bedford had approved, as the rest of the votes had yet to take place.
Karen West asked to confirm that currently any money over the permitted five percent is returned to the towns, and McIntosh agreed that this is the case.
Susan Stewart asked why capital items aren’t simply placed into the overall budget. McIntosh described efforts to do so, but also said that the capital items requests were increasing and there was a desire to plan for the unexpected. Finance Committee member Theresa Manganelli maintained that these items should go through the normal budget process.
Stephen Turner wondered if the town would be expected to pay more toward the budget if they vote against the fund, and McIntosh explained that the Town Meeting vote on the fund wouldn’t affect the community assessment. Turner also asked whether the fund had to be approved by all five towns. The answer McIntosh gave was that it only has to pass in four of the five towns to be permitted.
Judy O’Connell acknowledged the valuable partnership the town has with the Tech. She suggested that Wilmington residents on the Tech School Committee would oversee the spending of the funds. However, she shared a concern for a large dollar amount being put in this fund instead of going back to the town.
Another resident pointed out there are Wilmington residents on the Tech School Committee who they can trust to make good decisions with Wilmington’s money.
The applicant promised that the intent would not be to create a secret fund, and McIntosh reiterated that transfers into the stabilization fund had to be approved by Town Meeting. He also added there would be no limit to what can be contributed to this fund over time.
He described that the school is unable to change the five percent limit to the excess and deficiency fund, and they are limited to the budget projection proposed at the beginning of the year. This fund would allow more flexibility.
Attorney Mark Reich stated that the law says that the stabilization fund can include an amount not exceeding five percent of the aggregate amount apportioned to member municipalities for the preceding year or larger amount approved by DESE. This aggregate amount could not exceed five percent of the budget.
Suzanne Sullivan commented that she saw the difficulty of getting a capital project approved by five towns and she was willing to support the streamlining of that process.
The article passed with just 62 votes in favor and 59 votes against.
