LYNN — Fourteen months after its last proposal was rejected by the state, the city has a new $100 million plan to replace Pickering Middle School.
The School Committee is expected to vote Thursday to submit another statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), a quasi-independent government authority that helps fund the construction of school buildings.
Mayor Thomas M. McGee, who serves as chairman of the School Committee, said there’s a consensus among city leaders that there’s a need for new schools and due to its deteriorating condition, the 103-year-old Pickering Middle School is at the top of the list.
“Right now, based on our ability to find (funding) over the next two or three years, (Chief Financial Officer Michael) Bertino has determined we probably can afford a project of $100 million,” said McGee. “We will pursue addressing the Pickering issue with one school right now. That’s what we can afford. This project would be within the capacity of our ability to pay without doing a debt override.”
The school district’s last SOI was rejected by the MSBA in December 2018 due to the city’s unstable finances. At the time, McGee said the program stipulated that statements of interest only be accepted for communities with the ability to fund projects in the next two years.
If accepted into the program, the cost of the new school would be reimbursed up to 80 percent by the MSBA and the city would borrow the rest. A 30-year loan payment would be built into the city’s budget each year, Bertino said.
The plan marks a change from the last two-school proposal to replace Pickering, which was overwhelmingly rejected by a citywide vote in 2017. At the time, residents were asked to approve an override of Proposition 2½, which places a cap on the amount municipalities can raise property taxes each year. If approved, the average single-family tax bill would have increased by $200 annually.
Instead of asking for a tax increase, Bertino said the city will budget $450,000 to $500,000 for the new school each year, which will be used to pay off the long-term loan. Setting aside that amount annually would be enough for the first $2 million loan payment for the school, which would be due in four to five years, when construction would start, he said.
“We would continue to set aside $500,000 (annually),” said Bertino. “As I’m building up this new debt, I am paying off the old debt. In five years, I will have less debt than I have right now. Using that system, only one school could be paid for.”
Bertino described it as a “pay as you go system.” The city would make a payment each month, but would also get a reimbursement from the MSBA each month. It would have been much quicker to pay off a new school with a debt override, he said, but perhaps noting the last failed vote, city officials have determined voters would not be in favor of a tax increase.
“If the people don’t have the appetite to pay more, we have to do it within the confines of Prop 2½ which is our budget,” said Bertino. “I think it’s going to take cooperation on everybody’s part but I feel with a little bit of hard work, we should be able to do that.”
In addition, the process requires a new feasibility study, which Bertino estimates would cost between $1.2-1.4 million. He said he’s exploring options for how the city can pay for it. Using some of the data from the last study conducted for Pickering could lower that cost as well, McGee added.
Although McGee said the study would determine the site for a potential new school, he said the unpopular location — near Pine Grove Cemetery and Breeds Pond Reservoir on Parkland Avenue — that was turned down by voters three years ago will not be considered. The other proposed site, at McManus Field on Commercial Street, is still on the table.
McGee favors building a new school on the existing Pickering site, which aligns with the feeling of the other School Committee members, who want to build on land near Pickering.
McGee said other existing school sites are being considered, which would eliminate potential land acquisitions by eminent domain.
“My feeling is we need to be looking at places we can actually control,” said McGee. “I think that’s the right place to look, where we already have school facilities.”
Bertino will be present Thursday to answer questions before the committee’s vote. The deadline for the city to submit a statement of interest is April 1.