According to the website “Stimulus Watch,” the “shovel-ready” projects submitted from Vermont include
- Hunt Middle School: repair failing exterior brick walls – $1,200,000
- Energy efficiency improvements at one elementary school (Barnes) – $750,000
- Flynn Elementary School: new roof and insulation – $200,000
- Wheeler Elementary School: remove existing univentilators; install heat recovery units; new controls and converters; convert existing steam boilers to hot water. – $1,330,000
- Replace 1950s boilers, mechanical HVAC equipment replacement and install heat recovery rooftop units at one elementary school (Barnes) – $1,400,000
- Accessibility/ADA improvements at one elementary and one middle school (Edmunds) – $1,500,000
- City high school construction and improvements: 1964 auditorium needs to be updated for a high school of 1200 students; various code violations addressed; will put in over 800 new seats, new electrical, new lighting, new HVAC systems; ADA accessibility – $1,500,000
- Flynn Elementary School: mechanical HVAC equipment replacement; replace three 1950s boilers with high efficiency water boilers; install heat recovery rooftop units; remove asbestos insulation; install new controls – $1,720,000
We also have a ballot question (click on a ward ballot for PDF) asking voters to approve $9,700,000.00 in bonds for “the purpose of making capital improvements, including safety and infrastructure improvements, to City school facilities at the John J. Flynn, C. P Smith and Lawrence Barnes Elementary Schools.”
My question is, should the Burlington voters approve the bond item, or wait to see if the city can get stimulus money to fund these projects?
I realize that the ballot question also contains the proviso, “The City’s share shall be reduced by the amount of any financial aid received from the State of Vermont or other governmental source for this project,” but would already having the bond approval make us less likely to get federal help on these projects?
These are questions that I am putting out there for discussion. I’m not pushing the “no” vote, here. For all I know, maybe having the bonds approved would make it more likely that we would get stimulus money.
Discuss.
(Thanks to BurlingtonPol for the Stimulus Watch link.)
