Thursday, May 25, 2000 Older Editions

Exclusive approval: For new schools, safety center

By Neil Fater

Residents voted themselves a $45-million tax increase Tuesday in the interest of building two new schools and a public safety center.

Officials say the safety-center approval means the town will not have to cut positions or services to pay to build the center.

"They (the schools and safety center) went together and that's what we wanted," says Diane Hender, one the key figures in the coaltion of parents, police officers, firefighters and teachers that pushed for approval of both projects. "It was very important that we got the funding and we needed everybody for that to happen."

"This is a big sigh of relief. It's a significant win for the town, for the taxpayers, for the services we provide," says Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski.

"I didn't know how the people would vote," says Superintendent Claudia Bach. "We're thrilled with everyone who voted for the children. The children are already here, as I've said before, and now we have the schools for them."

The tightest vote was for Question 1, funding for the new safety center.

Although the safety center was going to be built regardless of the outcome, the "yes" vote means Andover will pay for the project by raising property taxes above the limit set by Proposition 2 1/2. A "no" vote would have required officials to pay for the project out of annual operating budgets for the next 20 years.

Question 1 was approved by less than 150 votes, 2,361-2,218.

The most convincing vote was for Question 2, the two new schools, which won by 2,904-1,682, a margin Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski described as record-breaking.

"I think there was some real good momentum going on with the schools because of Town Meeting, and the publicity going into Town Meeting," says Stapczynski. "However, we had the same thing six years ago (when another school debt exclusion was approved). We had Town Meeting and we had a debt exclusion vote and it was a lot closer.

"This was overwhelming. Do you have the percentages? It was 63 percent to 36 percent," he says. "This is one for the record books, I think."

Question 3, an effort to raise taxes again to build $600,000 in sidewalks to the new schools failed by 200 votes. Voters in only two of Andover's eight precincts approved of the idea.

"We've been working. Now we're ready to keep going," says Mark Johnson, School Building Committee chairman.

The building committee will be sending the project out to bid and hopes to have a contractor hired by its meeting on July 12.

"That's probably the date that we'll do the final review of the bids," says Johnson. "Our hope is to get the shovel in the ground by the end of the summer."

Officials are eying an opening of the new schools for the fall of 2002.

As for the sidewalks, Stapczynski expects the

"If I don't do it, I'm sure the neighbor's will," says Stapczynski.

Stapczynski acknowledged that he heard some talk among certain officials that Question 3 was put on the ballot to give "no" voters a place to turn there attention.

"That wasn't the reason I put it on there. The School Building Committee and I had a discussion back in December because I was promoting it all as one question," he says. "The intent (of separating the sidewalks) was, what was the true cost of building the school."

Three thousand fewer residents voted in this year's debt exclusion election than in the election in 1994 that funded the Andover High, South and Sanborn school construction projects.

Town Clerk Randy Hanson said she didn't expect the turnout to be low until she saw how few people cast absentee ballots in the weeks leading up to the election. While 2,000 Andover residents might cast absentee ballots before a presidential election, less than 70 did so before Tuesday's Special Election.