Greater Egg Harbor School District Has Until Friday to Decide on Referendum

The Greater Egg Harbor Regional Board of Education is at a pivotal point.

With plans of going out to referendum in December, Bond Counsel Ron Iaonone said Monday night that board members had to decide which projects to do when it went out to referendum.

Not everything will be eligible for state aid, Iaonone said.

According to Iaonone, the replacement air conditioning and ventilation at both Absegami and Oakcrest high schools and, at Cedar Creek High School, an electric sign and lighting for the football field or to install solar panels are not eligible for state aid. The district could receive up to 57 percent of the cost for replacing the roof at Absegami and Oakcrest.

As such, Iaonone and the board members have to ask themselves "do you want to put one question before residents (or) do you want multiple questions?"

Iaonone said the school district would not be eligible for debt service aid for the solar panels and HVAC work due to a decision made by Gov. Chris Christie.

Cost for replacing the heating, ventilation and air condition unit at Absegami High School is an estimated $3.1 million. The cost for lighting and a new sign at Cedar Creek High School is approximately $388,000 and the electric sign is $200,000.

Solar panels at Oakcrest and Absegami would cost in excess of $2.3 million.

The roofing project would be the only aspects eligible for grant funding, Iaonone said. He broke these projects down to the following:

* At Absegami, the area that would be re-roofed would be the 50,000-square-foot area over the existing gym and locker rooms, Hopkins said, at a cost of approximately $1.3 million.

* Another area which had previously been resealed is also being target at the Galloway-based high school at a cost of $1.3 million.

* Replacing the entire roof at Oakcrest would be more. The board was told previously that replacing the entire roof at the Mays Landing-based school would be around $6.8 million with the state paying approximately $3.8 million of that cost.

The district has until Friday to notify the County Board of Elections that it plans to have a referendum election Dec. 13. The district has until no later than October to submit what the referendum question would be.

Iaonone said that the second question could be contingent on the first. The second could only proceed if residents approved the first referendum question. Otherwise, both would fail.