Foes of Haddonfield schools bond say it's too big

A group of Haddonfield residents is calling on fellow borough dwellers to vote no in a $35.3 million school facilities bond referendum.

The bond is up for a vote March 8.

Members of Citizens Urging a Responsible Bond (CURB) say they are pro-schools and not against spending, but do not support the bond as it stands.

District officials say the many repairs that would be paid for by the bond are essential and should not be put off. The opponents feel differently.

"We are urging rejection of the [board of education's] current bond because of its many flaws," group treasurer and former school board member Christine Schultz said in a statement. "Those flaws include the various nonessential projects, a lack of public input, and insufficient safeguards, among other things."

The opponents say they hope that the bond will be defeated and a smaller bond, focused on what they call the essentials, will be put to a vote in September.

District officials, however, say the bond to be voted on next month is already focused on essential repairs.

"These are the critical components to keep our buildings standing," said Superintendent Richard Perry.

Without the repairs covered by the bond, Perry said, the district could lose the use of the high school's gymnasium and cafeteria.

The $35.3 million in repairs, Perry said, is a compromise from the approximately $80 million in work that the district's schools need and that will eventually have to be done. Emergency repairs of a wall at J. Fithian Tatem Elementary and some interim work at the high school have already been performed with existing district funds.

As drafted, the referendum questions include paying for interior and exterior repairs, heating and air-conditioning system work, electrical upgrades, stadium restoration, and running track replacement.

Of the work, about $11.6 million would be covered by the state.

This issue comes on the heels of allegations to the state Comptroller's Office by some residents that some previous bond issues for school repairs were not clearly accounted for.

In a Jan. 11 letter to the district, the office's assistant director, Richard O'Brien, said it had completed a review of those bonds and concluded that "no further action will be taken by this office."

On Friday, a spokesman for the office declined to elaborate.

Opponents of the current bond say they believe past repairs at the schools were flawed, and are urging the school board to set up a citizens' advisory committee of qualified professionals to monitor repairs and future maintenance.

For now, Schultz said, "what we would like is a smaller and more manageable bond that the district will allow the community to be more engaged in."

Perry and John Oberg, the district's business administrator, said the work that the bond would allow needs to be done sooner rather than later for safety reasons.

In addition, Perry said, stringing out the work through smaller projects would be more expensive: "To do mini ones, you're going to be driving up the cost."

If the bond is approved, the owner of a house assessed at the borough average of $484,226 would see a tax increase of $300.

Brian Kelly, founder of Haddonfield United, a grassroots group that was instrumental in defeating a question that would have allowed the district to acquire the Bancroft School property, said he, too, believes a smaller bond now, with the rest of the work to be done later, should be the way to go.

"If they do a good job, we'll go door-to-door" to support further work, he said.

856-779-3893

rgiordano@phillynews.com

@ritagiordano