Hearing on fields plan set for today
$5.2M debt exclusion on May 4 ballot
With a debt exclusion ballot question slated for the May 4 town election, Shirley voters will be asked — as they have been twice before — if they will temporarily raise their property taxes to pay the town’s share of a proposed $5.2 million high school athletic fields project, smaller in scope and with its cost estimate reduced by about $2 million since last time the question came up.
The current fields improvement plan will be presented at a public forum tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Ayer Shirley Middle School Auditorium.
The event is also accessible via Zoom.
The ballot question — which Ayer voters agreed to but Shirley voters rejected — was the final phase in a long planning process that included input from both towns, public presentations and substantial expense incurred by the Ayer Shirley Regional School District as the fields committee and its architectural consultants hammered out several iterations of the athletic facility makeover, attempting to whittle down a $7.2 million cost estimate to one that Shirley residents had indicated they might accept.
Proponents have said they can’t take no for an answer because the project — which includes a new running track, fields repairs, artificial turf, new bleachers and other upgrades — is essential as well as overdue, citing safety and ADA compliance issues, among other reasons.
It’s also been touted as a mustdo to cap the multi-million-dollar high school renovation and addition project that transformed a deteriorating, 50-plusyear-old building into a flagship high school a few years ago, with a re-configured footprint and brand new features and fixtures.
The athletic complex is just as old, proponents point out, and
The ballot question was the final phase.
quick repairs used in the past to keep it up won’t work any longer, they say.
Now, with a new architectural firm on board and a downsized project on the table, perhaps with a more acceptable price tag this time, Shirley voters will have one more chance to review the current plan before being asked to raise their taxes to help pay for it. That will be on the election ballot.