Andover Awarded $37 Million Grant For West Elementary

ANDOVER, MA — The Massachusetts School Building Authority recently made official its offer to fund up to $37 million of the West Elementary project.

The authority's board voted April 14 to approve the grant, which would go toward a $152 million total building project. Voters will be asked to approve the project, and the debt exclusion to pay for the rest of it, at town meeting and then in a ballot question in June.

The proposed project would replace the existing school and the Shawsheen Preeschool Program with a PK-5 school on the existing West Elementary site.

Town officials have proposed a nearly-$300 million "integrated financing plan" that would combine the school project with borrowing to pay off the town's retirement benefit, which faces a large deficit due to years of underfunding, partially on the basis of over-optimistic investment projects. The integrated plan would save taxpayers almost $100 long-term but increase taxes in the early years, officials say.

Town officials are also discussing a pension reform that would reduce future obligations.

Town meeting is scheduled June 5.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.