Thursday, March 1, 2007 Older Editions

All selectmen candidates oppose debt exclusions for roofs, sidewalks

By Brian Messenger

None of the five candidates running for selectmen support the town manager's proposals to use Proposition 21/2 debt exclusions to replace school roofs and repair town sidewalks.

Such proposals would increase taxes above the 2.5 percent plus growth allowed by the state law to pay for five-year plans.

Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski has proposed that if a five-year debt exclusion for roofs is not approved, the town could spend $3.4 million within the operating budget to repair school roofs that officials say must be fixed this year.

Two challengers also question whether the town needs to spend all of this $3.4 million.

The candidates - incumbent Chairman Alex Vispoli, Jerry Stabile, Don Robb, Frederick "Rick" Livingstone and Mary Carbone - further differ on whether Andover should adopt the Community Preservation Act, a surcharge on people's tax bills that would pay for specific projects (see sidebar, page 4).

Five-year plans

New estimates for a five-year master plan peg the cost between now and fiscal year 2012 at about $10.5 million to replace troubled roofs at several Andover schools, a roughly $1.5 million reduction compared to previous figures. A five-year sidewalk plan is estimated to cost about $5.6 million. These five-year plans would be paid through debt exclusions.

While Stapczynski also prepared one-year funding proposals for school roofs and town sidewalks, the five-year plans to be funded through debt exclusions were designed to keep Andover's long-term planning in mind, he said.

Here is some of what the candidates had to say:

"Anything we need to do with these we need to do out of the operating budget via bonding. I think both of these (sidewalks and school roofs) are slippery slopes," said Vispoli. "We've got to be disciplined on how we maintain our infrastructure."

"Operate within the operating budget," said Livingstone. "And if we can't do that I wouldn't be in support of that right now. We definitely want to maintain capital assets within the operating budget."

"I will never support overrides for essential town spending," said former Finance Committee and School Committee member Don Robb.

Both Stabile and Carbone not only disapproved the five-year plan for school roofs, but were also skeptical of the alternative article prescribing $3.38 million in funding for FY08, a slightly reduced number provided by Plant and Facilities Director Joe Piantedosi on Feb. 26 at a meeting with selectmen and the Finance Committee.

"Even the one-year plan, I would have a hard time supporting the full amount for that," said Stabile. "I think it's excessive."

"I would say I support some percentage of that. Based on Joe's presentation (Monday) night, I was not convinced it was all required," he said of the FY08 appropriation to cover roof projects at Andover High School, Doherty Middle School, and Bancroft, West, Sanborn, South and Shawsheen elementary schools.

"We're talking extreme dollar figures here," said Carbone. "I just can't see blanketing all these schools and putting new roofs on all these schools. I just don't know if there is a need in total."

Piantedosi, who is expecting bids in the next few weeks for the Andover High School project, said the high school is in the most dire need of a new roof.

"Our schedule is to do it this summer. It cannot wait another year," he said at Monday's meeting. "This is not maintenance, it's replacement of a major capital asset that's wearing out."

Piantedosi hopes to install PVC roof systems that are welded together. They are more expensive than rubber roofing systems but also have a 20-year life expectancy, he said.

Rubber roofs, which are held together with glue, "are lower on the front end, but their annual maintenance is extremely high," Piantedosi said. "Over time, or if the work isn't done properly, the seams fail."

Both Carbone and Stabile do not believe that all the roofs included in the five-year plan require immediate attention.

"I just would like to actually scrutinize the jobs that were presented by the Plant & Facilities (director)," said Stabile. "If we know the roofs are 20-year (roofs), then we should have a plan that is allocating the cost associated over a similar timeline."

"The rest of them, we're not having dire problems with because we've kept up with the maintenance," said Piantedosi. "If they're not replaced in the next few years, we will have problems."