Former councilman opposes Fort Lee school plans
To the Editor:
No one can deny that we are living in difficult times. Our parents lived through the Great Depression. Our generation will have the dubious distinction of living through the Great Recession. We talk of bailouts, trillion dollar deficits, ten percent unemployment, TARP., foreclosures, bankruptcies, deleveraging, Q1 and Q2—these have become the words of the day. Whole countries are on the verge of collapse. We all know the dire financial condition of our own state. Of necessity, austerity has become the new mantra.
That’s why I was dumbfounded when the Fort Lee Board of Education chose now to go on the biggest spending spree the borough has ever seen in order to alleviate some overcrowding in the system. While there is some overcrowding, total enrollment in the system has only increased by 110 students in 10 years (www.state.nj.us /education/data/). In September, the Board asked the voters to approve a $99 million referendum, $41 million for the building of a new four-story school and $58 million for repairs, alterations and additions to the existing structures. If the referendum passed it would double the borough’s indebtedness which must be repaid from the property taxes we all pay. (The state has promised to pick up $19 million of the $99 million. I wonder if Governor Christie will sign that check).
When I saw where the new school was to be built, I shook my head. The plans call for the construction of the building on the Stillwell Avenue recreation area where the tennis and basketball courts are now located. I served on the Borough Council in the 70’s and 80’s and was Parks Commissioner for several years. I took great pride in the many improvements made to that area over the years by both the Board of Education and the Mayor and Council. It’s a beautiful recreation area; we don’t have any other like it. I’ve tried to imagine how congested this small area behind the football field would look with the necessary road extension. I wondered how the residents of 8th, 9th and 10th Streets would welcome their new neighbor. How would the Stillwell Avenue residents cope with the added traffic?
On Sept. 23, the voters rejected the referendum. Undeterred, the Board of Education is coming back with referendum-light on Dec. 14, for $89 million. The new school still stands. (Each referendum costs the Fort Lee taxpayers $40,000). Subtracting the promised state aid, Fort Lee would be on the hook for $70 million, still doubling the borough’s debt. How will this affect your taxes? Just like a home mortgage you can choose to finance construction in many different ways. Ultimately, you will have to pay back the principal plus interest. If the new referendum passes, municipal borrowers today can borrow 30 year money at historically low rates of around 4.25 percent. On the borough’s obligation of $70 million, this works out to $2.8 million in interest per year for 30 years. Add to that the cost of running the new school. You will need new teachers, new administrators, maintenance staff, etc. Then there is the cost of insurance, utilities, plus mandatory contributions to the health and pension plans. You get the picture—it’s not rocket science. My personal guesstimate is that it will take at least $4 million a year to operate the new facility. Taken together, $6.8 million will have to be raised through taxes annually once the facility is operational.
Are there any less expensive solutions to the overcrowding that does exist at some schools? I believe so. Here are a few. I’m sure others may have better ones:
- The Board of Education can move out of its present quarters in School 1 and rent office space anywhere in the borough. The space can then be converted to 5 or 6 classrooms and maybe more.
- The Intermediate school was built so that it could be enlarged, if necessary. Do whatever has to be done to bring the building up to code and add another floor to the east wing.
- Holy Trinity elementary school in Coytesville, closed several years ago, is presently under lease for 5 years. Perhaps the borough can enter into negotiations to lease or buy the property.
I am a product of the Fort Lee school system as are my children. I have an extreme fondness for the institution. While a councilman, I supported every initiative of the board. This time I cannot. I believe it’s the wrong project at the wrong time in the wrong place.
Of Fort Lee’s 18,000 voters, less than 4,000 vote on Board of Education issues. With so many dollars at stake this time, I hope more voters come to the polls to express their opinion. The referendum will take place on Dec. 14, between the hours of 2 pm to 9 pm.
Chris Nicholas
Fort Lee
The writer is a former Borough Councilman.
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12 Comments
The referendum will not pass because people in Fort Lee care so little about education. The people always ask why are Tenafly Schools are better. The answer is that their residents are concerned with excellence in education. People like Chris West are not seeking excellence, that is why this town looks as it does. As a former councilmen Mr. West must be proud of how Main Street looks , great job Chris.!
VOTE “NO” on DEC 14th 2010. The arithmetic is simple. The student population that has overgrown is 110 but the Fort Lee School Superintendent wants to spent $99 million for new construction and when adding the cost overruns or the cost of running it this number can easily come to a bare minimum of $110 million. That makes it spending $1 million per excess student than I am sure they can be accommodated in a much cheaper way. Think about this. All this $99 million proposal is mainly pushed to us by the Fort Lee Superintendent of Schools Mr R. Bandlow. The Fort Lee Schools under his presence are now way below the 200th in NJ State ranking scale. Mr Banlow should pay more attention to education and not in unnecessary construction that will drive the Fort Lee residents to bankruptcy.
Recently he cut most of the Foreign Language classes in the FL HS that were taught in HS there many decades for small $amounts. According to him there is no money to spent in foreign languages. Now he wants to spent more than $100 million, money he does not have?
In these bad market conditions where people are jobless, having hard time to pay their mortgages or are trying to meet their daily budget a very generous person who wants to “charge” $100 million of people’s back goes around spending taxpayers money to convince the people to go his way.
I think this is a very irresponsible action on his behalf against the people’s will. The people of FL recently already voted down his referendum. He is coming back with a slightly modified version hoping to fool the people.
We MUST STOP his plan to drive us into a huge debt.
VOTE “NO to the $100 MILLION School Referendum.
The cost if this plan amounts to about 250 per year per household. If you cannot afford an additional 250 per year , than I suggest looking in the mirror and figure out how badly you screwed up your life!
I
Don’t make assumptions on other people’s lives.
The referendum is an expensive solution as simple as that.
By that logic, you can put in another $250 to cover my household. Thank you.
No maybe if you studied hard in school and had a normal career you would not be concerned about 250
Pay my $250 then, big shot.
No I figure you would only spend it on “Depends” and why use new ones, you should reuse them and save about 250 per year
I didn’t ask you to give me $250. I told you that you can pay the town my share, because you are such a success in life and have a lot of extra money to spend.
Fort Lee and I very much appreciate your largess.
Thankfully I do, it is a shame that you consider that amount a burden. Once again it speaks volumes as to what you did with your life and honestly I feel sad that this amount is important to you.
Yes, it’s very sad. But I am very thankful that you are putting in $250 for me, being that it is such a small amount of money to you. That is fair.
You must be a government employee. It sounds like you really like to spend other people’s money.
So I guess you are one of the ones looking in the mirror . Look around , go look in the schools . Open your eyes and see what has happaned in this town. People like Chris Nicholas are responsible for how Main Street looks. Nothing has been done to renovate or rebuild these schools . Nicholas says it is the wrong plan, look at how he planned Main Street . Sure let’s listen to him as he is such a resounding success.