NEW SCOTLAND — Members of the Voorheesville School Board were recently treated to a presentation of the latest iteration of a project years in the making. 

On March 7, representatives from Mosaic Associates Architects updated board members with a proposal to build a bus garage on the grounds of its middle and high school campus. 

“Conceptual in nature,” according to John Jojo of Mosaic, the district is proposing the bus garage be built behind the high school across from Cornell Cooperative Extension, parallel to Martin Road. 

Jojo said, “Because we really haven’t had a conversation … about what the quality of construction is, we took the position where we were at someplace in the middle of the road.”

Board President Cynthia Monaghan said “This [is] a lot of money to take to the public for vote.”

Monaghan asked Superintendent Frank Macri if he was going to offer the board some kind of estimate for the project.   

“Well, we’re not even close to drafting” a cost estimate “yet,” Macri said.

“It’s going to be a few months before we can really give you a better understanding, probably June,” Macri said. 

Jojo envisioned offering the district an “ala carte sheet” with options and prices from which to choose. 

“I’m not the person that says what’s the priority, unless there’s something that really has to be a priority by code,” Jojo said. “Other than that, it’s going to become a district wish list on exactly where [and] what’s the sweet spot to hit.”

“There needs to be ample time to educate our community or taxpayers,” Monaghan said. “So they understand what they’re voting on and the importance of it. Because you will get a very good turnout, I’m sure.”

The board OK’d Macri to move forward with further work on the proposal.

As for a timeline, the district would put the proposal to a voter referendum in November, and, if approved, out to bid the following year, in December 2023. 

Construction would commence in April 2024, with the entire project (the district is proposing additional work) wrapped up by October 2025. 

2017

The last time board members saw a bus garage proposal, it was 2017.

The $5 million and then $6.8 million project, which was slated for Voorheesville’s satellite fields, was scrapped due to cost. 

The district then came up with a proposal, later in 2017, to save $3 million over 30 years by leasing space in the Albany County Department of Public Works garage, a short distance from the schools along Route 85A. 

“It just wasn’t something feasible that we were going to be able to partner with the DPW on this,” Macri said during the March 7 meeting. 

More work

During the March 7 presentation, board members heard about additional projects the district would like to undertake at the elementary school, some of which were included as part of a January building-conditions presentation made to the board. 

The district’s enrollment study shows the elementary school needing six new classrooms in the next five years — but Macri said, based on past trends, it’s unlikely that so much room will be needed; the proposed design shows four new classrooms.

Voorheesville is looking to consolidate all of the elementary administrative areas next to the existing bus garage ($806,000), which would be transformed into the elementary-school cafeteria ($873,000 + $280,000 for expanded kitchen facilities ). Green space would replace some of the asphalt in front of the new cafeteria. 

There’s also a proposal for a new secure entrance vestibule ($400,000) into the new administrative offices, negating the current entrance where visitors spend time in the building unaccompanied — 95 feet of unprotected travel — before arriving at the principal’s office. 

 Macri said he’d also like to redo the bathrooms in the elementary school.

2022-23 budget

At their next meeting on April 4, it’s expected board members will adopt a $28.1 million budget for next year to send for voter approval on May 17. The proposed 2022-23 spending plan is up about 4.4 percent over this year’s voter-approved budget. 

Voorheesville will levy approximately $19.98 million in property taxes next year, up about 3.7 percent from this year. The district’s state-set levy limit for 2022-23 is about $20 million, a 4.16-percent increase over this year; however, the budget assumes an increase of only 2.5 percent.

Also on May 17, voters will be asked to decide on vehicle replacement proposition, for:

—  Two 65-passenger school buses at $255,000;

— A school van at $70,000; and

— A work truck at $70,000.