Essex school project nears $95 million as fall town meeting takes shape

The price of a new Essex Elementary School has dropped to about $95 million, and Essex's share would be roughly $25 million, officials said Monday as they worked through the draft warrant for fall town meeting.

The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee reviewed the articles on Sept. 28. Borrowing for the school replacement project is Article 7.

Last week's estimate was $98.9 million. A value engineering group trimmed it to close to $95 million, and a final number was expected Tuesday night. That figure goes to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Officials said the state is expected to cover about 20% of the cost, and Essex would pay one third of the rest. By comparison, Essex's share of Manchester's Memorial School, approved in 2018, was about $13.2 million. Officials blamed construction inflation.

Voters in Essex and Manchester will take up the project at town meetings on Nov. 16. Special elections in both towns follow on Dec. 10.

At a meeting last week, Manchester's Finance Committee said the numbers are coming late, leaving little time to inform the public. Essex officials said the district had always said figures would come in September.

Once the cost is final, the school district will rerun its financing plan to show what the average taxpayer would pay each year. Officials said the tax impact would be smaller in the first few years and grow as borrowing ramps up.

Finance Committee members debated whether to shop the bond work to other firms to save money. Town Administrator Brendhan Zubricki said he would find out whether the district's current firm is formally engaged. Members said there may not be time to switch.

The school district's calendar lists community meetings on the project Thursday, Oct. 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Essex Elementary School and Tuesday, Oct. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Manchester Memorial Elementary School. The district earlier listed another Oct. 29.

A late snow bill

The last article on the warrant asks voters to pay about $26,000 for sidewalk snow clearing. A contractor sent the bill only about a week ago, long after the fiscal year ended June 30. Paying a prior year's bill takes a nine-tenths vote of town meeting.

Zubricki said the Board of Public Works decided last winter to clear sidewalks much farther out from downtown, using private contractors at night. In the past, town crews did that work on overtime, which costs less. Officials said they could not recall a large snow bill ever arriving this late.

Snow and ice spending was about $170,000 in fiscal 2025 and about $281,000 in fiscal 2026 before the late bill. Before that, the highest total since 2013 was about $128,000, in 2014.

Selectmen and Finance Committee members want to talk about a snow removal policy with the Board of Public Works. That meeting has not been scheduled.

Other articles

The draft warrant also includes:

• Articles 1 to 6, zoning changes from the Planning Board, including inclusionary zoning.
• Article 8, adopting the state law that would create a full-time fire chief.
• Article 9, a fund built from private donations to help elderly and disabled taxpayers.
• Article 10, replacing the carbon filter media at the water plant. The money would come from settlement funds the town is receiving over PFAS chemicals. Zubricki said PFAS has turned up in raw water but not in finished drinking water.
• Article 11, water and sewer rate studies, estimated at $50,000 to $60,000 from water and sewer reserves. The goal is to build money into rates for future pipe and pump replacement.
• Article 12, public works equipment, including a sidewalk plow of about $75,000 and new generators. Public works is now looking at three smaller generators for the barn and fuel depot, the recycling area and the transfer station. Finance Committee members asked for a cost table and questioned buying the plow before the town hires a permanent public works superintendent.
• Article 13, a police cruiser of at least $70,000.
• Article 14, Community Preservation projects. The selectmen may seek money for erosion control at Centennial Grove.
• Money for the town's 12 special purpose stabilization funds and the reserve fund.
• Money for retiree health insurance, known as OPEB. The fund went from 62% to 90% funded in a year. The town's actuary warned that higher health costs could push that back to about 79%. Finance Committee members leaned toward putting in about $500,000 a year for two to three years.
• Article 18, budget adjustments, including money to refill a water department line. The department is replacing the radiator on the water plant's backup generator now, after it struggled in a recent storm.

The selectmen will take up the warrant again on Oct. 5 and plan to finalize it Oct. 19. They plan to set aside time at their Nov. 2 meeting for residents' questions about the warrant. The board also agreed to post plain language explanations of several articles on the town website.

Update, Oct. 4: The school district's calendar now lists the Essex School Building Committee community meetings on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Essex Elementary School and Tuesday, Oct. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Manchester Memorial Elementary School, matching the Essex selectmen's postings. Earlier versions of this story gave the district's earlier listing of Wednesday, Oct. 7.