By Ron Rosko
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT
LANGDON, NH — Fall Mountain Regional School District is hoping to prevent school buses from getting stuck in the mud with a special district vote scheduled for Oct. 5. The vote will determine if $280,408 of New Hampshire state funding designated for adequacy aid should be used for the project.
According to minutes from the June 26 school board meeting, infrastructure projects include paving the access road at Fall Mountain Regional High School, the bus parking lot, high school parking lot and the installation of a second egress.
A public hearing was held Thursday, Sept. 14, to allow residents the opportunity to weigh in.
“We have been talking about paving the parking lot for 12 or 13 years and the money keeps getting redirected,” said At-Large Board Member Jamie Teague. “As time goes on the cost rises because the parking lot keeps deteriorating.”
The need for a second egress, was realized after a downed tree blocked the access road, trapping students on the property until it could be cleared. This project would need a state permit and an engineering study.
Rep. Walter Spilsbury (District 3, Charlestown) criticized the special vote, stating that taxpayers needed more information ahead of such an important vote.
“It’s asking a lot to have the five towns of the district come out and vote it down. This project is not thought out or vetted, and needs to be presented at town meeting,” Spilsbury said. “State adequacy aid shouldn’t be used to pave lots. It’s meant to relieve citizens’ burden on property tax. It’s terrible judgment other than to do anything but return it to taxpayers.”
If the $280,408 in extra adequacy aid was returned to taxpayers, Charlestown would reap the biggest tax benefit (per thousand in home value) at $0.63 in savings; Langdon $0.20; Walpole $0.07; numbers for Acworth and Alstead could not be heard. The district has a surplus of approximately $1.5 million that will be refunded to taxpayers, however that will likely be offset by additional spending in the upcoming budget.
Others in the audience raised concern about attendance at special meetings like the one scheduled for Oct. 5. Typically, a special vote only draws about 100 people, whereas a town meeting day will see more than 2,000 voters.
The hour and a half meeting ended with a majority vote for the engineering project with a special election on Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. Information about the vote can be found on the district website.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.