BRUNSWICK — With coinciding financial needs from the school department and municipal government, Brunswick officials hope that discussion of the town’s priorities does not pit interests against one another.
On Tuesday, members of a town subcommittee tasked with overseeing plans to build a new police station expressed concern that budget challenges at Brunswick’s schools could prompt residents to ask “Why now?” for the station project that officials say the town has hoped to complete for decades.
“I don’t think anyone can argue that we don’t need a new police station,” said subcommittee member Bernie Breitbart. “The people who are negative about it — it’s always, ‘Yes, we need it, but why now?’”
As the Brunswick School Department stares down a $3 million budget gap with losses in state and federal funding alongside a variety of facilities needs, Police Station Subcommittee member Sarah Brayman said she’s concerned about an either-or proposition emerging between school and police station capital projects, both of which would likely need to be financed through a bond or loan.
“Bonds could go toward the schools,” Brayman said. “People might say they want ( a bond) for the capital needs for the schools and not this.”
Paul Perzanoski, superintendent of Brunswick schools, said he doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s like trying to say what’s most important,” Perzanoski said. “We need the protection of the police department and we need to educate our kids — they’re both important.”
Reduced state and federal education aid should not derail the long-held plan for a police station, Perzanoski said.
“The police department has waited a long time to have an up-to-date facility and there’s always going to be something that comes up that you don’t necessarily plan on,” Perzanoski said. “ That shouldn’t interfere in the long-range planning of the community.”
David Watson, District 1 town councilor and Police Station Subcommittee member, said at Tuesday’s meeting that he hopes to prepare presentations about the police station project to inform the community in the coming weeks about progress on the project and answer questions from residents.
“We want to create an environment where nobody in the community thinks that this has been done in secret and at the 11th hour,” Watson said.
Watson said part of that will be reaching out through community organizations and doing presentations outside official town forums.
“The problem about public meetings is how many people in total volume are really getting the true picture — how many are really watching these meetings or watching the Town Council meetings?” Watson said.
Subcommittee members also raised concern that some residents may still be unaware of the town’s plans to build a police station at the corner of Pleasant and Stanwood streets, something for which Police Chief Richard Rizzo said he is exploring a remedy.
“I want to get a big sign on the corner of Pleasant and Stanwood,” Rizzo said Tuesday.
Rizzo said he expects to receive a cost estimate for a 4- by-8-foot sign on the property soon.
Town Manager Gary Brown said Wednesday that the town has not yet defined what mix of town funds and loans would be proposed to fund the police station project and that the process will be ongoing through the coming weeks.
After the South Portlandbased firm Ledgewood Construction was hired earlier this month as the construction manager for the pre-construction phase of the project, Brown said that a full cost estimate is still expected by the end of March.
Preliminary estimates put the project cost around $5.3 million.
Wednesday night, School Board officials held the first in a series of targeted workshops to review the district’s programs in the process of building a budget that the school officials will eventually bring to the Town Council for approval.
Perzanoski said it is still unclear what the school budget will look like or how much more the school department might ask of the town toward closing the $3 million funding gap.
Perzanoski said a large piece of that will be completing negotiations over teacher contracts, which Perzanoski expects to be completed “very shortly.”
In addition to the immediate needs for this budget year, Perzanoski said the district also will look to the town to help address facilities needs that will be outlined in the school department’s facilities master plan, which is currently being completed.
“We have some needs above and beyond next year’s budget that we’re going to have to take into consideration,” Perzanoski said. “ We want those to be taken seriously just as the town wants the police department to be taken seriously.”
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