Voters back school for U. Dublin

Upper Dublin has the go-ahead from voters to build a $119 million high school, becoming the first district in Pennsylvania to get public approval for such a project under Act One, the Pennsylvania tax-relief law passed last year.

By using a little-known provision of the law, the Montgomery County district reduces the likelihood of having to put its entire budget up for public vote in the coming years.

Officials with the 4,400-student district said Tuesday's vote was the first in Pennsylvania using a provision in Act One that allows school boards to exempt "electoral debt" - debt approved by the voters - from counting toward the annual school budget tax-increase cap that the state sets for each school district. Districts that exceed the tax-increase cap have to seek approval for their entire budgets from voters during the spring primary election. If a budget is voted down, it must be cut until the tax increase no longer exceeds the cap.

With 35 percent of registered voters casting ballots Tuesday, 4,264 Upper Dublin district voters - 62.5 percent of those voting - said yes.

"We feel very strongly that the positive showing in the special election reflects the strong values for education within the community and positively reflects on the process itself," said Upper Dublin Superintendent Michael Pladus. "For the past two years, the district has done everything it could to engage the community about what to do with a building that was greatly in need of repairs."

Votes on proposed tax increases are new this year in Pennsylvania; the state is still determining which districts will have to hold budget referendums in the May 15 primary. In New Jersey, votes on construction projects, as well as on overall school district budgets, are a long-standing practice.

The Upper Dublin district is proposing a 4.9 percent tax increase this year, which is more than its tax-hike cap of 3.4 percent, but with other spending exceptions included in Act One, the district will not exceed the allowed limit and will not have to hold a budget referendum, said business manager Wade Coleman.

Since the taxes collected to pay off the $119 million Upper Dublin High School construction project will not count under the district's tax-hike cap in future years, there is a much greater chance that it will not exceed the cap down the road, district officials said.

Under the construction plan approved Tuesday by the voters, the old district high school, which was originally opened in 1948 as a junior high, will be torn down and replaced in phases by the new building, which will be at the same site, on Loch Alsh Avenue in Fort Washington.

Construction is to start in June 2008 and be completed in December 2011, but students will be using some parts of the new building by September 2009.

The district estimates that once construction bonds are issued and taxes are raised to finance the project, residents will see a 15.7 percent tax increase, amounting to $601 a year for a homeowner with an assessment of $190,000, which is close to the average assessment in the district. The bond payments - and tax increases - will start being phased in for the 2008-09 school year.