Dear Editor,
As you know, there is a contentious question in front of the Town of Wilmington residents regarding how to spend our tax dollars for our schools. The proposal for the construction of a new mega school to be built at the North Intermediate School site needs to be voted on twice, as it will allow an override of the 2 ½ percent increase in property taxes allowed by law annually. This proposed construction places a new “mega school” directly into green space where our kids currently play soccer, baseball and basketball. This proposal, if accepted, will knock the North Intermediate School down and be replaced by a school building that will cost $173 million dollars (with $63 Million being granted by the MSBA). It is intended to house Pre K-5 for exclusive use by the north side of town.
I have been very vocal about this project over the past months as this one, if we get it wrong, will have a detrimental effect on thousands that have called Wilmington home for 30, 40 or even 50 years. To the Gen X’ers, you’re not immune from this either. As our parents age out, it’s an unsettling fact that we are the next group of “seniors”. The tax ramification of this school will last 30 years. This brings us into our 70’s. With the average home in Wilmington being assessed at 700k your taxes will go up initially by $422. This total does not include the annual 2 ½ percent increase and it does not include other future re-assessments that are happen every few years.
As some of you may know, I have spent my entire life in this town. I have grown up with many of your sons and daughters. We played Baseball on the very field that the town is proposing to get rid of. I went to dances with them in the cafeteria of the North back in the late ‘80s. I care about this town, but I also care about those that made this town the great place to live it is today. I chose to bring my three kids up here, and yes, my children are in the Wilmington school system, so I do have proverbial skin in this game.
For this reason, I am asking you to sound the alarm to VOTE NO, in person on Sept 13th at town meeting as well as on the ballot Sept 16th. This project, while a behemoth on our tax levy comes at the same time that we are spending almost $40 million dollars on a new Town Hall that arguably was not needed. It’s also coming just prior to the Shawsheen Tech school renovation buildout that some say Wilmington’s portion is as high as $200 million dollars. The reality of what I am saying is that YOUR property taxes will go up in the thousands due to overrides and irresponsible capital spending in the next 10 years! To make things worse, this is also compound tax situation in that the amount your taxes increase based on this override, will be combined with your regular tax bill and the 2 ½ percent will compound year after year. Like a savings account in reverse. This means $422 this year, $434 next and so on.
Further, the town manager is on record as expecting to build a similar school on the west side of town in 2035. This means come the year 2035, (as Gen X’ers are turning 60) we will be charged the compounding debt of this school, the Shawsheen Tech renovation, and since we are building the most expensive option here, we can expect that the other side of town is due an improved, higher tech school product, right? So that’s at least three massive pieces of debt within 10 years. This does not include a new (urgently needed) Fire Substation, possible new Dept. of Public Works building, and other projects that the town may need.
A NO vote on this project does not mean you’re against a new school. A NO vote on this project tells those in charge that you want a more fiscally responsible choice that will take into account those residents of lower or fixed incomes that can’t go out and hustle a second job to cover those extra expenses. A NO vote tells the school committee that you want them to take those less fortunate under consideration when planning the future of our schools.
A NO vote, in person at the Town Meeting on September 13th at Wilmington High, to be followed by a ballot vote on September 16th, does not mean you’re against a new school. It means you’re against this plan, and sends it back for redesign.
This project is and was the most expensive option that the town explored. The project that came in just under this was about $64 million dollars cheaper and consolidated Pre K-3 at the site of the Woburn Street School. This would have been a more fiscally responsible plan that takes into account the fact that we just spent almost $40 million dollars to build a brand new, unnecessary Town Hall and also accounts for the seniors and those residents of modest means. The second choice design may also have qualified for a significantly higher amount of reimbursement from the MSBA since the expensive project was granted just above the bare minimum. It would also have taken a bit of the sting away when we find out how much that Shawsheen Tech renovation bill will be.
Please do your research, I have posted all factual, decrying documents online on the VOTE NO WILMINGTON MEGA SCHOOL FACEBOOK GROUP, detailing everything. Please consider your parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends and relatives that cannot afford “the most expensive option”. I assure you; you will not be the only person to stand and VOTE NO at the Wilmington High School auditorium on September 13, 2025. Show up.
Thank you
Rob Fasulo
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