On the new Junior High
We support our kids.
But we can’t afford another
$1,000+ a year in taxes.
Strong Schools.
Strong Families.
A Brighter Swansea.
We believe in investing in our schools and giving our children the best opportunities. But this project places a heavy financial burden on Swansea families, and an increase of this size is simply not affordable for many of us right now.
Let’s support our students — while also being responsible with taxpayer money.
Uses the school district’s own estimator — $88.3 million borrowed at a 4.5% estimated interest rate — and returns the same figures, to the cent. Once the borrowing is finalized this amount stays on your bill year after year.
Same Community.
Same Values.
Let’s Keep Swansea Affordable.
Supporters lead with the state reimbursement. Here is the whole ledger — taken directly from the district’s own published project figures.
The MSBA covers a base rate of 56.26% of eligible costs, plus up to 5.56% more — not 56% of the whole project. Anything the MSBA deems ineligible is 100% ours.
That is $19.6 million more than the district’s 4.5% estimate — on the same building.
Our assumption, stated plainly: level debt service over the term shown, at the district’s own 4.5% estimated rate. The district has published the 4.5% rate and the $88.3M borrowing cap; the term is ours, and you can change it above. Interest is real money and it belongs in the total.
The $149.7 million is the cost of the building. These costs are real, they are coming, and not one of them is in that number.
Swansea has not borrowed this money yet. The district’s own page says the final cost “may be higher or lower depending on the actual interest rate and financing terms when the Town completes the borrowing.” Borrowing has been getting more expensive, and every half a point adds roughly $10 million to what taxpayers repay. At 5.5% instead of 4.5%, the 30-year total goes from $162.6 million to $182.2 million.
The $149.7 million buys a new school. It does not answer what becomes of the existing Joseph Case Junior High once it sits empty. Reuse, mothballing and demolition all cost money, and none of it is in this project’s budget. That bill arrives later, to the same taxpayers.
The Highway Department needs a new facility. The Fire Department needs a new station and a training facility. Both will require borrowing. A 30-year debt exclusion for a 510-student school does not make those needs go away — it puts them at the back of the line and makes them cost more when their turn finally comes.
Swansea had fifteen years of steady finances. The last two have not been steady, and the town faces a shortfall as soon as the next fiscal year. When that happens the levy gets pushed to its limit just to keep basic services running, and what isn’t covered becomes cuts and layoffs. A new thirty-year debt payment lands on top of that, not instead of it.
Three dates decide this. The last one is the only one binding on every taxpayer.
Share it with a neighbor — then send them here so they can run their own number.
