Voters in Farmingdale approve bond for school district repairs, reject expansion of HS career and technical education, fine and performing arts facilities

Voters in Farmingdale on Tuesday approved one bond proposal for upgrades to the school district's infrastructure and rejected another that would have funded expansion of the high school's career and technical education and fine and performing arts facilities. 

Proposition 1 passed by a vote of 1,202 to 1,089. The measure, with a cost of about $22.1 million, will fund roof repairs and replacements at the district's six schools. It will also pay for upgrades to the district’s electricity infrastructure. School officials have said the district's roofs have exceeded their 20-year expected life span and are no longer under warranty.

Proposition 2, which was contingent on the approval of the first proposal, called for $55.85 million to pay for enhancements to the high school's fine and performing arts and career and technical education wings. Voters rejected the proposal, with 1,326 opposing it and 952 casting a ballot in support. The proposition also called for relocating the high school's nurses' office closer to the front entrance and creating a larger waiting area, which officials had said would enhance safety.

The average tax increase will be $21 annually since only the first proposition — to upgrade infrastructure — was approved, school officials said.

If both proposals had been approved, the average district taxpayer would have paid $95 more annually for the first five years, school officials said. Residents would have seen a $93 tax decrease annually over the following 10 years, due to full repayment of older debt, followed by a $104 tax increase per year for the remaining 15 years of the bond.

The expansion of the career and technical education wing would have allowed the district to offer programs such as automotive repair and first responder and emergency medical technician training. The bond would have also funded a new cosmetology lab and barbering program, and classes in the building construction trades, where students can earn workforce credits for careers that are in demand.

The proposed fine and performing arts wing called for larger rooms for the marching bands and orchestra with storage for instruments, and new art classrooms.

Nearly 5,200 students are enrolled in the six schools and more than 3,800 are considered student musicians or artists, according to the district.

Administrators estimated that the fine and performing arts and career and technical education portions of the project could have begun in the next school year, if approved, and taken 18 to 24 months to be completed.