Special Board of Aldermen Public Hearing — 12/16/2019 Page 22
Bottom line, is it will be the Nashua residents paying for the school in even higher property taxes. City Officials
keep on increasing our property taxes here in Nashua. However, they do not realize that young people cannot
afford to get an apartment in Nashua and young couples cannot buy a house and then pay their property taxes.
The residents have already seen a drop in young people moving into Nashua, so why spend the money on a new
school when the tax payers would prefer to put the money back into the schools we already have.
The Mayor does not seem to mind spending the tax payer’s money on frivolous things like a half a million dollars
on a boat ramp. How many residents us that boat ramp, 5, 10%? | do not think that Nashua residents should have
a Say in this type of spending? Why did the City Officials not go up to the Legislative Committee to get the $10
million dollars for Charter Schools but instead let the State Officials turn it down? $45 million dollars would have
gone a long way to help the Charter Schools within the State of New Hampshire which is a better educational
rating than any of our public schools. Did they want the Nashua resident to decide where their children should go?
How many Nashua parents are waiting to get their children into Charter Schools? If the Mayor was not interested
in getting the money, why should the Nashua residents spend the money for the new school?
If the Nashua Officials went up to this meeting, they would have heard that the State had stated that New
Hampshire has a declining K to 12 enrollment, so why would the Nashua residents pay for a new school when the
number of children within the State is dwindling? Officials would have also heard that the Academy of Science &
Design and Micro Society Charter Schools in Nashua have the longest waiting list to attend these schools. Did
Nashua Officials even consider these schools or the Nashua residents who are waiting on these lists to get their
children in for a better education? No. Our Mayor and our Board of Aldermen only want to spend Nashua tax
payer money. Well Nashua residents do not want to spend their money on a new building, fix the schools. Thank
you.
Beth Scaer 111 East Hobart Street. | request that the Aldermen provide an analysis for the amount of financial
bonding commitments, including any possible additions for planned projects for the next five years. | would ask if
any alternate lower cost proposals have been considered for each of the programs that you wish to bond. We
shouldn't have to build for an increase in student population when data shows a decrease. You can design a
building to allow future additions if necessary. We should also see the estimated increase in our tax rate which
should have been developed. Have you considered delaying any of the programs until some of our bonds are
completely paid? | think an alternate proposal should be discussed at a future meeting where we can see less
expensive options. Thanks.
TESTIMONY IN FAVOR
John Roche 12 Meadowvew Circle. | just want to say | think the world of this project. | think that the Joint Building
Committee and Alderman Dowd deserve a ton of credit for the hard work that they have done. | am absolutely
looking forward to having a brand new middle school down in my southwest corner of the City.
Shawn Smith Good evening, | am the Director of Plant Operations for the School District, also a relatively
recent new resident of Nashua. | was living out in Temple and moved to Nashua this past March. | like that my
commute has gone from 45 minutes to less than 10. | didn’t prepare any statements until | started hearing
everything in opposition so | thought I’d come up here and talk a little bit.
First and foremost the discussion about the access road, for one thing if that is indeed in negotiations which |
think it is, itis not something you want to talk about publicly, so we can’t. From what | know those discussions
are on-going and | am not going to say anything more about that. I’ve been here for over 22 years now in this
position and | cut my teeth on the Amherst Street Elementary School Project, renovation. | was here for both
high school projects. There’s been five other elementary school projects since then, all renovations, obviously
| am pro schools and pro building and putting money into our schools. | do know that the site on the southwest
quadrant was set aside years ago, even before my time. So it has always been set aside, there was a lot of
concern with the residents that they thought it was all conservation land; it was never conservation land. It has
always been set aside for the school.
