SALEM -- Residents will vote during a special election this Tuesday on whether to approve a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override that would allow the city to raise the $239 million necessary to build a new high school by temporarily raising the city's property taxes beyond the 2.5% annual limitation.
On Feb. 25, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) approved a $208 million state grant to help pay for the new high school project.
The new high school would be a four-story, 365,000-square-foot building located between the current high school's footprint and Highland Avenue with an estimated construction period of 30 months.
In addition to addressing code, energy, and learning space inadequacies of the current building, the design provides space for a new auditorium, new media center, Career and Technical Education spaces, academic classrooms, as well as spaces for special education, nursing and health.
The project also aims for net zero energy, and would include a geothermal well-field and solar panels. The existing field house would be demolished for a new one of similar size with an included indoor walking track. The design also includes plans for the creation of two new soccer/lacrosse fields, overlapping baseball/softball fields, and new tennis/pickleball courts.
The May 5 special election asks voters to approve a debt exclusion that allows the city to increase property taxes beyond the 2.5% limitation for the next 30 years in order to raise $239 million toward the total price tag of $447 million for the project.
If the debt exclusion passes, the median residential tax bill over the next 30 years of debt payments would be $682 per year, or 10.6% over the current bill, officials say. After 30 years, the median residential taxpayer will have paid $20,460 toward the school. The median increase for commercial property would be $1,233 per year, which is 11.2% of the current median commercial tax bill.
If voters reject the debt exclusion override and, effectively, city officials' plans to pay for a new high school, Salem is still required to do a basic renovation of the existing building to address the substantial code issues in that building. That smaller scale project is estimated at $353.6 million, but with the cost entirely placed on the city, with no state funding.
These code issues include lack of ADA compliance, energy code deficiencies, structural and building code problems such as materials like asbestos and structural issues, and non-existent life safety systems -- with half of the building not having a functional sprinkler/fire suppression system.
For a renovation plan, Pangallo said the city would have two remaining options in order to address these code issues.
The first would be to fund the project locally only by parceling out the $353.6 million into multiple phases of several million dollars per year for the next 30-40 years. With interest and inflation, at the end of 30 years, that would cost Salem taxpayers $932 million, according to Pangallo. This would also serve to limit the city's ability to take on other capital projects such as road and sidewalk repair, seawall restoration, pipes, parks, police and fire vehicles, and other school buildings.
The second option would be to restart the MSBA process in hopes of securing some degree of future state funding for the code renovation. Restarting the MSBA process would be a multiyear undertaking, he said; the city has been working toward the $208 million grant agreement it has with the MSBA now since 2021. Inflation would increase the $353.6 million price tag as well. Pangallo said there is also no guarantee the MSBA would agree to any state funding for the code renovation.
"The city has applied to the MSBA many times after the 2008 renovation project that addressed half of the building, for funding to address the remainder; every time, the state turned down the application," he said. "The MSBA has already voted, in February, endorsing new construction. Even if they did change their minds and approve funding for a code renovation in several years' time, there's no saying how much the state funding amount would come to. The $208 million they have approved for the new construction project is not necessarily what they would approve for a code renovation."
If the debt exclusion passes, costs related to the new high school will appear on tax bills once permanent financing is in place and long-term bonds are issued, which the city has tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2028.
Polling locations for Tuesday are as follows:
- Ward 1, Precinct 1 -- Bentley Academy Gymnasium, 25 Memorial Drive
- Ward 1, Precinct 2 -- Community Room, 135 Lafayette St.
- Ward 2, Precincts 1-2 -- Community Life Center, 401 Bridge St.
- Ward 3, Precincts 1-2 -- Salem High School auditorium, 77 Wilson St.
- Ward 4, Precincts 1-2 -- Witchcraft Heights Gymnasium, 1 Frederick St.
- Ward 5, Precincts 1-2 -- Saltonstall School Auditorium, 211 Lafayette St.
- Ward 6, Precincts 1-2 -- Bates School, Theater Room, 53 Liberty Hill Ave.
- Ward 7, Precincts 1-2 -- Salem State Enterprise Center, 121 Loring Ave.