Former Student Matt Sheehan asks your support for GLTech Project
By Shawn on Nov 27, 2012 in Community
I support Greater Lowell Tech.
Twelve years ago I had the privilege of attending the Greater Lowell Technical High School. During my four years there, I studied culinary arts under the direction of great teachers including Paul Morin, Arnold Price, Sandra Day, and the late Peter Coffin. The education that I received at Greater Lowell prepared me well for the transition to college where I earned my Associates Degree in Science.
The need for well-trained service and technical professionals is ever expanding. From traditional vocational service fields such as culinary arts, plumbing, and carpentry, to technical arts trades such as machine engineering, electronics, and office technology, to human service fields such as early childhood education, medical assisting, and hotel management Greater Lowell Technical High School provides education and training for these fields that are always desirable.
Over the years, Dracut has benefited from the training that Greater Lowell provides our children. For example:
- • Electrical- Rewiring and installation of air conditioning units at the senior center
- • Auto Tech-Painting of several police cruisers as well as a fire truck
- • Carpentry- Students built a screen house and two storage sheds for the Dracut Housing Authority
- • Painting- Painted town Hall
- •Greater Lowell has given back $385,707.00 over the past ten years towards Transportation costs.
Greater Lowell’s facility is in need of improvements to support the efficient operation of the physical plant and to maintain the educational programming provided by the school. I am writing this letter to support the renovation project at Greater Lowell Tech. I write this letter of support as a proud alumnus, a Dracut Taxpayer, and an honored elected official.
The Dracut Public Schools has an outstanding and wide-ranging educational program.. There are, however, certain programming it cannot offer such as those listed above and others. The regionalization of vocational programming is an efficient way of supporting students who wish to pursue areas of study outside of the existing offerings of our community high schools. This is just one of many reasons that I support the renovation project for Greater Lowell Tech. When it comes to the education of our young adults of Dracut, we need to work together to provide the best learning environment we can.
The total price for this project is $65,310,211.00. The MSBA reimbursement rate is 76.84% or $50,088,316.00, leaving a balance of $15,030,825.00 of which Dracut’s cost is $3,124,909.00. Projects like these are proof of what our tax dollars can do in the state. The community’s financial obligation to its students who attend Greater Lowell is most efficiently met through support for the renovation project.
I ask that on December 11, 2012 the voter’s of Dracut carefully consider the numerous advantages to our students and support the renovation project for Greater Lowell Tech.
Thank You,
Matthew J Sheehan
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Shawn | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
Guess I got to ask, Matt.
Do you pay property taxes yet?
Karen | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
In looking at the presentation on the GLTech website only $30M is deemed “critical”. (http://www.gltech.org/documents/Combined_MSBA_Presentation.pdf)
There is no information as to what the remainder of the $30M will cover. Why? Also, why are things like “unsightly doors” being financed over 20 years? That is poor fiscal management, akin to financing last night’s dinner on your mortgage refinance.
I don’t have a problem with the school in and of itself; what I do have a problem with is the lack of ongoing maintenance and the thought that the supporting towns are supposed to foot the bill for that over the next 20 years.
Bob | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
I’m already paying extra taxes for DHS, Library, etc. Extra fees for sports and bus fees. Then here is the fiscal cliff that could potentially happen. Enough is enough. We are voting NO. I only have a limited income!
Bill Pappas | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
Are you telling me my only choice is to vote for 3 mil or pay 6 mil.The people that run these operations are never going to maintain their buildings. All they worry about are themselves. It was already proven in the high school in Dracut. Wait till you see the next item coming up. Have we reached our debt of 100 million yet. It looks like that’s what we are working towards. And more foreclosures. Don’t forget the public sector motto. “I got mine x5yq* the next person”.
Bill Pappas | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
Hi Shawn. He claims to be a Taxpayer.Whatever that means??
Rene | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
There will be an informational session at the Dracut Library Saturday December 1st from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 pm. Please come by.
Shawn | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
Now lets be fair, I made the point. We don’t need to dwell on it.
But, as another has asked me in email, who is paying the thousands of dollars for this election? Its already coming out of us. You would think the school would front the money for it.
Rene | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
Greater Lowell Technical High School has offered $18,000.00 towards the cost of the special election.
Shawn | Nov 28, 2012 | Reply
Havent heard that, others have asked and did not get that. Is it documented on the GLTech website?
Rene | Nov 29, 2012 | Reply
I’m not sure but I’ll see if I can get something in writing.
Karen | Nov 29, 2012 | Reply
Never mind is it documented on the GL Tech website — has the $18K been given to the town? That is just a drop in the bucket. We still need to know about the other $30M cost for items that are not on the “critical” list and why regular maintenance has not been performed on things such as “unsightly doors”. Remember — Dracut rewired the Englesby within budget and by its maintenance department. Why hasn’t the GL Tech done the same???
warren | Nov 29, 2012 | Reply
Hey , i think its a good project
But… that does not mean that taxpayers should feel obligated to vote for another tax increase
Its not right to keep asking for a larger and larger percentage of peoples income because they can’t balance their spending with income
Rene | Nov 29, 2012 | Reply
Karen,
Please come to the information session at the library on Saturday and I can review the whole project for you. The doors aren’t efficient and cause heat loss. The electrical system at Greater Lowell can’t be compared to the Englesby electrical system.
The cost of the special election was budgeted for by the town. According to our town manager it has a cost of $3,000 to $4,000.
As far as Greater Lowell paying for the election I’m still trying to find out if they can legally do that.
Rich Cowan | Nov 30, 2012 | Reply
Karen — when did Dracut rewire the Englesby within budget? Before or after 1993? How many additional electricians did the town need to hire to do this and how much did they have to spend on supplies for this? And finally, was the expense of rewiring Englesby counted under the maintenance section of the school department or was it done as a separate capital expense?
I say this because the maintenance budget for Dracut’s public schools as a percentage of the total net school spending is higher than all other local school districts. I know you view the Englesby spending practice as a good thing… but every dollar that you pull out of education and put into maintenance has a long term cost. The school committee doesn’t like to acknowledge it but there are a few areas where the Dracut schools have serious issues with supplies, teacher quality, and class size. Dracut may be poor relative to some of the other towns in the area, but it is not so poor that math and science scores for the kids in the lower grade levels should be as low as they are.
Finally, even though your point may be valid about the doors (perhaps the Voke could have paid for them by reallocating resources over the last 20 years), what’s done is done. All we can influence is how they go about maintenance moving forward. And keep in mind that the set of doors that would have cost $1000 to the member towns will now cost $231.60 thanks to the state reimbursement. There is a certain efficiency/economy of scale in doing all of the doors at once.
Shawn | Nov 30, 2012 | Reply
Yeah.. its always better to be irresponsible for 20 years and then ask for someone else to pay for it.
Again, we can talk about the project forever. In the current situation much of it is probably necessary (why it grew from 30 million to 60 million in a matter of months makes you wonder). I want to hear what is going to change with regard to maintenance for the next 20 years before even considering support.
Steve O’neill will be on the radio program tomorrow I believe to discuss how he proposed paying for the whole thing within budget.
Bill Pappas | Nov 30, 2012 | Reply
And we are going to have a cocktail party. In a Town with a beer pocketbook. Who pays for that??? Oh yeah the FRIENDS OF THE GREATER VOKE SCHOOL. Would be nice if we had a FRIENDS OF THE TAXPAYERS OF DRACT.
Eric | Dec 2, 2012 | Reply
I would think a “Vocational” school would have a pristine and rigorous maint. program. You can implement it as part of the curriculum.
Bob C | Dec 3, 2012 | Reply
Something that made my BLOOD BOIL… I was in the library on Saturday to get my latest audio books and I guess there was a group of proponents to raise our taxes for Greater Lowell school… I come to find OUT that GREATER LOWELL STUDENTS pay NO BUS FEE … yet Mr. Wilkie, Mr. Sheehan, etc. have increased the bus fee for DHS students to over $200.00 per student ($400 for me). Me being a 1 income family with high medical bills for my wife these days cannot afford anymore taxes.
I can’t afford the bus fee so I have to take time off from work to take them to school. Why does GREATER LOWELL not pay a bus fee? Here is a partial solution to your income problem! Still voting NO!!!
Rene | Dec 4, 2012 | Reply
Bob,
For the record Greater Lowell is a regional school and under the law they can’t charge for busing. This goes for any regional school, Groton Dunstable, Nashoba Valley, Shawsheen etc. The other thing you need to be aware of is that Greater Lowell over the last 4-5 years has given Dracut back over $300,000.00 in transportation cost. I wish you would have stopped by on Saturday and I could of explained this to you. If you would like to talk about the merits of the projects let me know.
Rene
Rich Cowan | Dec 5, 2012 | Reply
Bob — I am kind of confused at how the propaganda machine in Dracut works. People are getting their “blood to boil” over relatively small costs, while no one is pointing out much larger wastes of money in the budget that could easily be cut. Here is a rough comparison:
$200,000 — annual cost of Voke repairs, where Dracut pays 5% of the total bill
$500,000 — annual cost of antiquated trash collection system
$600,000+ — annual cost of police & fire department responding to false alarms
$500,000 — annual cost of delays in switching the town to the GIC health insurance
If fiscal conservatives like yourself got organized, maybe you could help get the town to reduce the waste of funds in these other areas instead of always coming down on education. Then your taxes would go up less, or not go up at all!
I don’t mean to be too negative… actually the town is tackling the trash collection issue. But they appear to be only inviting ONE VENDOR to come in and present a proposal on how to change the trash collection system. They are inviting public discussion on the issue on December 11 at the Board of Selectmen meeting.
Why they don’t get MULTIPLE VENDORS to present MULTIPLE BIDS is beyond me. With the high school and town hall, there were multiple bids so what is the reason we can’t do this for operating expenses? Someone please explain this to me.
Here is the piece describing the town’s new trash collection initiative, as proposed by recycling coordinator Matt Zettek:
PROPOSED COST SAVINGS THROUGH NEW TRASH COLLECTION INITIATIVE
Shawn | Dec 5, 2012 | Reply
Not sure how you can say the $500,000 “antiquated” trash collection system is a waste.
Currently, its actually a well organized system, that handles all the various forms of waste with little effort on the consumer’s part.
The change being presented will save 20% (if you’re right in that waste disposal costs $500,000 a year), but limit the ability to put out waste to a fixed size/shape and volume of trash.
Residents will have to start hiring out (dumpsers, bagsters, etc) when they do “spring cleaning” or heaven forbid after a christmas morning.
I would like to see the numbers from other communities as to what the savings were when they first started the program and whether they remained (or did the cost of waste just return to the previous level with the reduced level of service).
And I have to admit, from a leftist point of view (which is rare for me), those trash collection jobs are some of the few low-skill jobs available in our economy. The costs of people put out of work should be considered as well, but not as a deciding factor.
As to GIC, how is it you have determined that switching to GIC would save us $500,000 a year. I thought Dennis determined that it is comparable at this point to our self-insured program.
Shawn | Dec 5, 2012 | Reply
When someone asked the Town Manager what was meant by the quote “Greater Lowell over the last 4-5 years has given Dracut back over $300,000.00 in transportation cost.” , Dennis asked the Tech Business Manager to explain.
George Garabedian replied:
I guess the question arises.. what are these “available funds” that seem to be available to return to the towns? Are they only available when convenient?
Rich Cowan | Dec 5, 2012 | Reply
Shawn — my home town implemented a transfer station that accepts recycling and construction debris and “green bags.” So that is a way to address the issue of spring cleaning. And it actually would save Dracut homeowners’ time.
Example: we added a few cabinets to our kitchen and it was a pain under the current system to cut up all of the boxes the cabinets came in to put them out to the curb. My neighbor went through the same issue when he had to get rid of 30 moving boxes. It would be much easier if the town had a transfer station where a resident could just take the folded boxes down in one piece.
I agree with you on the jobs issue. The proposal by the town reduces jobs and I imagine a lot of the savings there would just go to the contractor. Hamilton-Wenham, as well as my home town, did not go with the automated barrel system so the jobs you are talking about were saved.
Rich Cowan | Dec 5, 2012 | Reply
Also: Dracut trash collection costs around $2 million a year. If you do the math I think this works out to around $190 a household, which is fairley expensive by MA standards. $500,000 is about what you could save by implementing a PAYT system. The town of Shrewsbury is probably the best example of a town that kept taxes low by implementing PAYT. Scott Brown’s home town of Wrentham also implemented this system. http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x987652029/Pay-as-you-throw-lets-towns-burn-less-trash
George boag | Dec 6, 2012 | Reply
The trash collection system may be a place to save money but I found Mr Zettek’s memo vague on where the savings would be achieved. Among the questions I had:
1. What do we currently pay and what is the cost breakdown?
2. What were the actual cost savings in surrounding towns?
3. What is Dracut’s current recycling rate compared to other towns? How has that percentage changed in recent years?
4. The memo states that residents would save money by not replacing trash barrels. Does that mean free replacement bins will be given if the new bins are stolen or damaged?
I agree with Rich that if the new system is put in place multiple bids should be solicited. It makes sense a more automated system would save money but I would like actual numbers to look at.