Love it. If you don't like the message - attack the messenger! The vote was 525 to 120. There were many more consenting opinions in the room.

Stev - Apparently the majority was in the minority last night. Like the GOP who would still like to deny that Obama won election as president, twice, it's time for you to recognize that the majority may not feel as you think they do!

John Intorcio - Yeah right and Obama's been doing a great job eh ?

BEST RECOMENDATION YET......BUT of course they will not do it. Remember the land on haverhill Street that the Power Company owned and we traded them for the DPW? That land was to be sold .but guess what it hasn't been. How about the eminent domain Smith property? That is not being used at all. We the sheep keep getting led to the slaughter of our money.

I doubt it Mel..............WHY hasn't this been looked at before??? In a location far far away known as Swan Pond, the School Dept always said it wants to keep the land to build a new school. Well the time has come to get rid of it. The housing market is up, put in a senior retirement community as the location is ideal, get money in taxes and fees with no tax burden of kids and it will pay for much of the costs. But then again WILL THEY DO IT? take a vote on that.

From the above comment - the School Committe got the blank check on the project overrun - what choice did anyone have at this point? Any incentive to reduce taxes and act like a busines or a household with a limited budget is not a priority? I understand the context of your comment and do not expect any common sense action either to relieve any stress on taxpayers - just hold onto surplus property forever - go for the override!

For those who doubt we will look for all sources of alternative funds to help lower borrowing, here is a little history lesson for you:

The Batchelder School project was approved at the time that the state had placed a moratorium on all new building projects. We were told that we would not get any money from the state for this project if we proceeded. However, the building was in such poor condition that it had to be done immediately. As we neared the end of the project we began working with the state to attempt to secure reimbursement, even though we had already been told no. Many members of this community worked long and hard to get these funds, and in the end the state relented and reimbursed us for more than $8 million. That is more than $8 million dollars that the town did not have to borrow. So doubt all you want and make all of the accusations that you want. I know that every member of every committee involved with this project is committed to working to find alternate funding that will reduce the required borrowing.

And all of those campaigns to vote down the Swan Pond School resulted in the total price for the Batch project being almost double what it would have been if we built Swan Pond in the first place. I don't know whose pencils were being sharpened, but all of the no votes on Swan Pond ended up costing the town more.

In fact, under the current structure, parents of students DO pay more. They pay it through athletic fees, extracurricular activity fees, costs to donate Kleenex and pencils, activity costs, etc. - all things that were once part of the school's expenses and shared among the taxpayers.

When my kids are out of the school sytem, I will be paying for their education for the rest of my life. Someone paid towards educating my children when they had no children. I will pay that back when my kids are done public school. I

This project was not mismanagement and no one was lied to. Please stop with these acusations. I suggest you join the SSBC or run for Selectmen to correct the problem if you believe it was mismanaged or people are lying. I heard alot of so-called experts last night but I bet not one attended any SSBC meetings or info-sessions or are willing to volunteer their time.

I too was dissapointed by the lack of respect shown by some town meeting attendees. One person in back of me talked trash the whole time and I could not even hear what was being presented. One person had to tell this gentlemen to stop talking several times. This by far was the worse town meeting I have attended with regard to the rudeness of the town meeting attendees. I believe it is time to go to a represenative form of town meeting after what I witnessed last night.

Excellent point, John. And do not forget the $250 bus fee. I believe in total parents annually pay close to $1 million in various fees and tuition for programs. That is a large chunk of money that is extremely important to the school operating budget, and it all comes out of the pocket of parents with children in the schools.

Solomon, here are the extra taxes that a parent currently pays for the privilege of sending his/her child to a public school in North Reading. Of course, they are called fees, not taxes, but as John indicated, they used to be paid by taxpayers collectively:

bus pass - $250; athletic fee - $400 for the first sport, $200 for the second sport, and $100 for the third sport; activity fee - $125.

That's $1,075 for one student who takes the bus, joins a school club and participates in two sports. The bus fee is capped at $450 per family, so the extra cost for a family with two high school students who each take the bus, join a club and play two sports is $2,100.

That extra $2,100 is the equivalent of an additional $130,000 assessment on the parent's house.

How much more do you want parents to pay?

So if I follow your logic about a new tax structure, if residents without children in the school system should pay lower real estate taxes, then I am assuming that if I never have to call on the police and fire department to come to my home, then I too should pay lower taxes. Or, if I never use the senior citizens center or services, then I too should pay lower taxes. This kind of "logic" is silly. North Reading is a community where everyone pays to make it a better place. The us against them argument has never worked and never will work.

This project is like Boston's Big Dig, the price just keeps going up.

Pattie, it would be helpful to the discussion if you can name your source of the "like it or move" comment. If you attended town meeting last week, this very comment was brought up and once again, it was clarified - Selectman Delaney is on the record saying that "we must move on" at a prior informational session. The speaker bringing this up was corrected.

Solomon

12:49 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013

I agree with the observation about rude people. At one point I could not hear any of the speakers. I understand that no selectman at their meeting said maybe the elderly, if they cannot afford the tax increase should move out. Fact is it wasn't a selectman but a citizen(s) whom made the comments with agreement from some audience members. This is not the first school project ever done. It should have been known from the beginning costs would rise. We should not have been told previously they would not be going back to residents looking for more money. Clearly, this project has been mismanaged. People are not against improving our schools. They are upset with being lied to and having their pockets picked again. Iy seems that some people think we have "money trees" on our property. This is not the first time we have been overtaxed and at least for the next 20 years we will be. What ever happened to the sewer project? If its still coming, it will coast our citizens even more through a betterment tax. Senior citizens and people on fixed income cannot not afford the increases and should not be "chased" out of town. I propose a a new tax structure where if you have no children in the school system you pay less taxes and the people with children should pay higher. Let's see how fast such tax increases whould be passed on. Maybe its time for overhauling the accessing the way taxes are billed to make it more fair.