Current DPW cannot shelter much of their fleet
The long awaited new DPW Facility Planning Study will be presented to the Select Board on Monday night. Main headline of course will be the $37 million price tag. Ouch!
DPW Chief Guilford Mooring points out this is still a preliminary plan with healthy contingencies built in, so prices should drop as the plan gets closer to breaking ground.
Fort River School is the preferred site for new DPW
The town is currently in the throes of birthing four major costly building projects: a new $65 million elementary school, a Jones Library expansion/renovation with published reports as high as $40 million, a new forever talked about South Fire Station which certainly will cost more than the $12 millions Joint Capital Planning Committee has used as a placeholder for years, and this DPW refresh at around $37 million.
The state will reimburse half the School and Library construction costs but even then we're looking at $50 million in town funds. And there's no state reimbursement for DPW, so now we're up to $87 million; and the Fire Station can't be much cheaper than a DPW facility, so new we're well over $100 million.
Or one-tenth of a billion. Yeah, that's real money.
Use existing DPW building -- as is -- for fire station?
ReplyDeleteFire trucks smaller than trolleys for which it was built...
Most town's in the area are spending beyond their means. The two worst
ReplyDeleteare Greenfield and Amherst. The big difference, Mayor for Gfld and Select board for
Amherst. Maybe no difference at all.
This is a ton of money. Library should be shelved. It's a luxury. A S. Amherst Fire Station is a necessity.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, library expansion is a total luxury and the Fire Station and DPW are far more important. But I think cuts should also be made to pay for the fire station and DPW, in order to cover any bond payments.
ReplyDeleteSo what would you like to cut? Police, firefighters, teachers, DPW workers?
ReplyDeleteHow about cutting stained glass windows and sprinkler systems?
ReplyDeleteLow hanging fruit to trim the fat in Amherst town government (from the open checkbook):
ReplyDelete2 conservation @ $40,000
1 tree warden @ $81,000
6 library employees @ $50,000
4 Finance admins @ $55,000
2 LSSE admins @ $65,000
1 Planning admin @ 91,000
1 Planning admin @ $65,000
Total $967,000 per year without even getting into the school administration. Would go a long way toward debt service.
That is $4,000 per person or $12,000 per family for the $150 million in projects. Does not include interest, maint, utilities, staffing, equipment, upgrades etc. Which will cost more.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense given the extreme wealth and excess resources available locally. That is similar in cost to sending 600 kids through the local school system or 1000 in other commnities.
How do some of the building costs per capita compare to other communities for similar services? Is there a cost benefit analysis we can look at for these extreme expenses? How else do others form opinions as to how much neighbors should pay?
The $100 million price tag is misleading. The DPW depends on the Fort River site being vacated by the Fort River School which depends on the mega school being built. The Fire house is not even in the study phase. The library has not been designed yet.
ReplyDeleteThey can't shelter some of the fleet? They are outside all day long. They can sit outside at night.
ReplyDeleteThe Fort River School is prime real estate...the DPW yard?!? Dumb location as that coule be a nice commerical lot (and BRING in $, not spend it). How about Bruxton's pit in North Amherst? Lots of land up there....or Cherry Hill? Haha, I know I know.
ReplyDeleteHow about the old land fill? Carving out a spot at the new land fill? DPWs are necessary but should be in an out of th eway spot.