Taxpayers asked to pay $8M for school project
Residents to vote Sept. 30 for heating, electrical at SRHS
BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer

Officials at Shore Regional High School are asking area taxpayers to approve an $8 million referendum to fund major improvements to the school's heating and electrical systems.

Residents of West Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport and Sea Bright can vote Sept. 30 on the $8 million referendum to support a $14 million heating and electrical renovation project at the school.

"The referendum is needed to replace the school's heating system, lights and its electrical panel," Shore Regional High School Business Administrator Dennis Kotch said. "They are all 47 years old."

Heat for the school building is generated through the boiler system. The boiler was first installed in 1971 and had a lifetime service expectancy of 25 years, according to Kotch.

"It breaks down all the time," Kotch said, adding that because the system is so old, replacement parts cannot be found and must be manufactured at a higher cost.

"We had a couple of breakdowns last winter," he said. "[The heating system] runs hot water through the building to heat the rooms, and last winter the pipes broke and sprayed hot water into the classrooms."

No one was injured during the incident, which occurred after school hours, Kotch added.

In addition to replacing the school's heating system, the proposed referendum will also fund the installation of a new lighting system and main electrical panel in the school.

Like the heating system, the school's lighting and electrical panel are both nearly 50 years old.

Kotch explained that due to the age of the lighting system, the majority of the school's lights cannot be turned off during off hours because they cannot be turned back on.

"The lighting is old and inefficient," Kotch said. "The majority [of lights] we can't turn off anymore because it's all fluorescent and doesn't come back on. So that's a big waste of electricity."

The school's main electrical panel is also a drain on the building's electrical system because it does not have the capacity to handle the electrical loads needed to power the school, Kotch explained.

As a result, electricity goes into the electrical panel bottlenecks and causes an overall loss in efficiency, according to Kotch.

The entire referendum is estimated to cost approximately $14 million. The district is planning to apply to the state for 40 percent debt service and is asking taxpayers to fund the remaining $8 million, according to Kotch.

The vote on the referendum is open to residents of towns, which the high school serves, including West Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport and Sea Bright.

Taxpayers are invited to participate in guided tours of the school to view the heating and ventilation system. Tours are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday at 6 p.m. and on Sept. 27 at 8 a.m.

Should the referendum pass, the average taxpayer in West Long Branch would see a $5.60 monthly increase in their tax bill, while the average taxpayer in Monmouth Beach would see a $5.10 tax increase a month.

Taxpayers in Sea Bright would see an increase of $5.50 a month and the least impacted town would be Oceanport, where taxpayers would see an increase of $4.70 per month in their tax bill.

Kotch said that if the referendum is passed, the district will prepare a final design for the project, which must be approved by the state Department of Education. Then the project would be put out to bid.

"Everything is going to be much more efficient [when completed]," Kotch said. "The lights will cost a fraction when they are on and we can then turn them off at night and shut off different sections."

If approved, work on the project is estimated to begin sometime in April 2009 and will be completed in August 2010.

Workers will perform any work they can while school is in session and complete what they can't after hours, according to Kotch.

"Anything that can be done will be done when the kids are here," Kotch said. "The boilers are shut off on April 14 and turned on Oct. 15, so during that time the contractors will be in the boiler room only.

"I'd be very happy to get this [referendum] passed," he continued, adding, "It's a necessity. It's not something we want, it's something we need, because right now we are running a big risk of the system going down, and if we lose the heat, we can't open the building."

Prior to the start of the 2008-09 school year, Kotch said that school was doing everything it could to get the system to work.

"We got an extra 22 years out of [the current system]," Kotch said. "We should be pretty happy."

Contact Daniel Howley at dhowley@ gmnews.com.