As many of you have heard, the Town of Groton will be holding a Special Town Meeting Monday, September 12, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. at the Groton Middle School Performing Arts Center located at 344 Main Street, Groton, MA, to request authorization to increase the borrowing for the Florence Roche Elementary School Project by $9.5 million. It is essential to be informed and to attend Town Meeting to vote.
For childcare on Monday, September 12th, please click here.
All Groton residents should have received (via USPS) the Special Town Meeting Warrant. There is only one Article to be presented for consideration. For those who may not have had the opportunity to read the Warrant provided in the mail, both the Summary and Article language are included below:
Article 1: Additional Funding for the Florence Roche Elementary School Construction
To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to pay the costs of designing and constructing a new kindergarten through fourth-grade elementary school with approximate square footage of 109,855 square feet located at 342 Main Street in Groton, Massachusetts, inclusive of abatement and demolition of the existing school structures on said property, new parking lots, relocation of the existing track, various other site improvements, and all other costs incidental and related thereto, which amount shall be expended in addition to the $76,495,360 previously appropriated for this project under Article 8 of the Warrant at the Town Meeting held on May 1, 2021; to determine whether this amount shall be raised by borrowing or otherwise provided, or to take any other action relative thereto.
Summary:
Permission is respectfully sought for authorization to increase the borrowing for the Florence Roche Elementary School Project by $9.5 million. As a Town, we recognized the importance and need for a new elementary school for our youngest residents when the Town authorized funding for the Project. This need has not changed, and the reasons why this school is needed in our Town are the same. Voter approvals in May of 2021 authorized borrowing for $76,495,360 for the construction of the project, which is funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The grant is anticipated to be $26.1 million, with the remaining amount funded by the Town of Groton. Construction of the project is well underway. There has been unprecedented escalation in construction costs across the Commonwealth since the project was approved in May of 2021. The current estimated project cost is $85.9 million, $9.5 million more than was previously authorized. Therefore, permission is respectfully sought for authorization to increase the borrowing for the Florence Roche Elementary School Project by $9.5 million.
The above information has been sent on behalf of the Florence Roche Building Committee.