East Hampton School District officials on Tuesday unveiled a plan to put up a bond referendum in 2025 for significant repairs and upgrades to its facilities.
So far, while it introduced several possible projects, the district appears poised to prioritize a major overhaul of the East Hampton High School auditorium. They said it has been largely untouched and unrenovated since the 1970s, despite being one of the most heavily used facilities in the district. “New seating, new lighting and sound systems, expanded dressing and practice rooms, and removal of asbestos-laden ceilings” are proposed. An early estimate of that project’s cost is $10.08 million.
Another key aspect of the plan is a complete replacement of the boiler system at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, for which “technological advances make it more practical to replace the system” rather than continue to repair it. The estimated cost is $1,176,000.
New, “weather-tight” windows for East Hampton Middle School are also a priority for the district. The estimated cost for that is $2,142,000, but there is a chance, said Adam Fine, the district superintendent, that it could be wrapped into an energy-performance contract. Such contracts are intended to be cost-neutral, with expenses offset by savings on utilities and energy.
A renovation of the middle school auditorium, at a cost of about $4,537,200, is also proposed, entailing new lights and ceilings.
Finally, the district floated the idea of building a “field house” for a diverse array of indoor sports activities, programs, and practices, along with a new artificial-turf athletic field and possibly a pool on the E.H.H.S campus on Long Lane. East Hampton officials have planned a trip to Stony Brook University to view the field house there, which might serve as a model. A big-picture number for a field house is $36 million, excluding the idea of a pool.
“It’s all about creating opportunity for kids here,” Mr. Fine said.
A timeline of voter approval in 2025 would give East Hampton a green light to file construction plans with the New York State Education Department, which reviews and approves all school projects. Sam Schneider, East Hampton’s assistant superintendent for business, said he has seen plans take anywhere from 20 weeks to 56 weeks to be vetted. At that point, the bulk of the money would be borrowed, coinciding with the winding down of East Hampton’s existing debt payments in 2028, “meaning that we should be in a position to borrow money for new projects in 2026,” Mr. Schneider said.
That way, “the taxpayers don’t see a spike” in their school taxes, he said.
There’s also a possibility that East Hampton could tap its capital reserve account, which has typically been funded with end-of-year surplus money, to pay for some of the costs.
The administration and school board noted these are still in a preliminary conceptual phase, and said they are seeking community input to shape the plans. Ideas and feedback can be sent by email to [email protected].