by Rachel Hunter

The Gouverneur Central School District’s $57.38 million capital improvement project and bus purchase propositions received the support from district residents on Tuesday, December 12.

The proposed $57.38 capital improvement project passed, 280 to 47. Proposition No. 1 reads as follows: “Shall the following resolution be adopted to wit: Resolved, that the Board of Education of the Gouverneur Central School District is hereby authorized to undertake certain capital improvements consisting of construction and reconstruction of school buildings and facilities, various site and athletic field improvements and the acquisition of certain original furnishings, equipment, and apparatus and other incidental improvements required in connection therewith for such construction and school use, all at an estimated maximum aggregate cost of $57,380,000; and to appropriate and expend from the existing capital reserve fund $9,600,000 for such costs, and that the balance of such cost, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be raised by the levy of a tax to be collected in annual installments, with such tax to be offset by state aid available therefor; and, in anticipation of such tax, debt obligations of the school district as may be necessary not to exceed $47,780,000 shall be issued.”

The proposed bus purchase passed, 294 to 31. Proposition No. 2 read as follows: Shall the following resolution be adopted to wit: Resolved, that the Board of Education of the Gouverneur Central School District is hereby authorized to expend $555,520 from the existing Transportation Capital Reserve for the acquisition of three (3) 72-passenger school buses, at an estimated maximum aggregate cost of $555,520.

Faithful readers of the Gouverneur Tribune Press will recall that details on the proposal were included in last week’s edition.

Gouverneur Central School District Superintendent of Schools Jackie Kelly provided the following statement following the capital improvement project vote: “I would like to thank the voters of the Gouverneur Central School District for approving this project. The Board of Education worked hard to develop a project and funding plan that will improve our facilities and benefit our students and community, and I am thrilled by the support we are receiving. Our vision is to Deliver the Promise of a Brighter Future for Our Students and Our Community, and while we still have a lot of work to do to get there, this project will be a big step forward for all of us. For our students, our families, our faculty and staff, and our fantastic community supporters and partners, this is a great time to be a Wildcat!”

For more information on the Gouverneur Central School District, visit gcsk12.org. The next meeting of the Gouverneur CSD Board of Education will be held on Monday, December 18, 5:30 p.m., in the GHS cafeteria.