Manchester leaders warn voters have not heard the tax bill for the Essex school project

The Essex Elementary School project carried an estimated price of about $98.9 million as of Sept. 23, and Manchester leaders say their residents still have no idea what it will cost them.

That tension dominated a Sept. 23 meeting at Manchester Town Hall that brought together officials from Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea and the Manchester Essex Regional School District. The two towns share the cost of the regional schools, with Manchester paying roughly two thirds of building costs and Essex about one third.

The project is headed to fall town meeting votes. Officials agreed they have only a few weeks to explain the tax impact.

Where the number stands

School officials said the spring estimate, used to compare design options, was about $93 million. The building as now designed is estimated at about $98.9 million. That figure assumes construction bids in 2028 and works out to roughly $1,087 per square foot.

The Essex School Building Committee was reviewing possible cuts the night of the meeting. Officials said the committee would settle on a final number the following Tuesday, Sept. 29, because the design has to be locked to meet the Massachusetts School Building Authority's submission schedule.

The state authority's base reimbursement rate for the project is 31 percent. After caps on square footage and other costs, the district's project team puts the effective rate at about 20.7 percent, or roughly $20 million on a $100 million project.

That leaves close to $80 million for the two towns. Using the two thirds and one third split, by the Current's arithmetic, Manchester's share would be in the range of $52 million and Essex's about $26 million, before any cuts. Officials said the final split will come from the district's capital formula.

Since the meeting, the estimate has come down. At the Essex selectmen's meeting Sept. 28, officials said a value engineering review had brought the price to close to $95 million, putting Essex's share at roughly $25 million, with a final number expected Sept. 29. Read more.

Officials said the design team pointed to rising costs for steel, which now carries a tariff, petroleum based materials and other supplies. Manchester Memorial Elementary School, the district's last new building, cost about half as much.

Manchester's concern

John Round, chair of the Manchester Select Board, and Sarah Mellish, chair of the Manchester Finance Committee, said the timing worries them. The town approved $32 million in capital projects at April town meeting, and a senior center of more than $7 million is on the November special town meeting warrant.

"There is absolutely no talk in Manchester about this building," one of them said.

They said residents will not pay attention until they see how their own tax bills will change, and that no such number has been published.

School officials said they have mailed every home in the district twice and held community meetings in both towns, and that a fall vote had been the plan for months. Numbers were always expected in September.

Manchester Town Administrator Tony Barletta said the concern is not about the school. Every large project in Manchester gets a hard look from the Select Board and Finance Committee, he said, from fire trucks to the senior center. He said there is still time, but "it needs to be a very aggressive, informative, fast process."

How the debt would hit tax bills

Manchester officials said when a project hits the tax rate matters as much as its size. Manchester is still paying off the regional middle and high school, and those payments are declining.

Officials from both towns said they still support the approach agreed on in the spring: use short term borrowing at first and delay long term bonds until the high school debt comes off the books. Nobody at the table argued for a change.

Some Manchester officials recalled that for Memorial School, long term bonds were sold early in the project. The full Finance Committee did not know until it was done.

The towns and district planned a call with the district's bond adviser once the final number is set, so each town can see payment schedules by fiscal year.

The schedule

• Oct. 5: Manchester Select Board and Finance Committee joint meeting. Town leaders asked the building committee to bring a final cost and debt schedule.
• Oct. 8: Essex School Building Committee community meeting, 6 to 8 p.m., Essex Elementary School, per the district calendar. Another follows Oct. 13, 6 to 8 p.m., at Manchester Memorial Elementary School. Officials described an early October forum as the first public look at tax impact.
• Oct. 13: A forum discussed for Manchester residents.
• Oct. 19: Manchester must decide whether the project goes on its November warrant.
• Oct. 22: Deadline to finish the Finance Committee book mailed to every Manchester household.

Barletta described how Manchester sold its spring capital plan: weekly articles in the Manchester Cricket, short "Manchester Minute" videos and informational sessions. Officials agreed to try the same approach, with an article drafted ahead of time and numbers filled in once they are final. The School Committee's new communications subcommittee offered to help.

Manchester officials also asked that project information be posted on the town website, not only the school district's site.

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.