NEW SCOTLAND — The Voorheesville Central School District is preparing to ask voters to approve a $25.3 million project that would provide the district with a long-sought bus garage and much-needed upgrades to its elementary school. 

The school board was presented with the project particulars at its Aug. 17 meeting. 

Superintendent Frank Macri told the board he’d like to have a special meeting in September, where a referendum would be proposed. And, if the board voted in favor of holding an election, one would be planned for Nov. 15. 

The $25.3 million project would include a  new bus garage for $6.6 million and upgrades at the elementary school for $9.9 million. 

The project assumes a 15-percent contingency of $2.5 million and 30 percent for incidental expenses, which covers construction soft costs such as architectural, engineering, legal fees, and things like desks and chairs, and adds another $5.8 million to the proposal.

If voters pass the measure, there would be a 2.5-percent increase in property taxes starting in 2025, with some small fluctuations, that would stay in place until 2040, when the elementary school project would come off the books, at which point there’d be a 1.1-percent decrease in the rate, according to the district; the entire bond would be paid off by 2054. 

The project’s total debt service for the first 15 years would be about $1.42 million per year, with state aid covering about $922,650 and the remaining $497,000 coming from property taxes. The final 15 years of debt servicing would cost about $530,000 annually, with $247,000 per year coming from the state and $276,000 per year from property taxes.

The proposed bus garage would be built at the rear of the middle and high school campus, with an entrance off Martin Road. The building, which would double as Voorheesville's transportation office, would also have infrastructure installed in advance for electric-vehicle charging stations. 

When the district last attempted building a bus garage, in 2017, it was scrapped due to cost concerns — over the course of seven months, the cost rose from $5 million to $6.8 million. 

As for the rest of the capital project, at Voorheesville Elementary School, the current bus garage would become an expanded cafeteria with a full kitchen. On Aug. 17, Macri described the current set-up as a “prep kitchen.” 

There would be additional shuffling of offices and classrooms, floor and ceiling replacements, as well as equipment upgrades. 

Outside the building, the district plans, among other things, to install new walkways; to improve the parking lot; to construct a new maintenance building; and to stabilize a bank along the Vly Creek, which runs next to the elementary-school parking lot.