Lincoln School Committee unanimously endorses $49.9 million school building project

LINCOLN — October 18, 2012 — Lincoln School Committee unanimously endorses $49.9 million school building project. The committee joined the Finance Committee, which voted unanimously a week earlier, and the Capital Planning Committee, which endorsed 5-2 the prior night, in backing the project before the Nov. 3 town meeting and Nov. 6 public vote. Chair Jennifer Glass said the Massachusetts School Building Authority's $20.9 million contribution leaves the town responsible for roughly $29 million, and noted that a separate McGuire Group study commissioned by the Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee pegged a repair-only path at about $33 million over 10 years. Member Tom Sander, initially a skeptic, cited current borrowing rates near 2.75 percent and warned of a Lincoln-Sudbury-style cycle in which towns "invest another $5 or $10 million for repairs" every few years rather than build. Member Jennifer James cited undrinkable water and a second-grade wing "freezing cold for the entire winter."