A Proposal for a
New Town Office
Article 3 Shall
the registered voters of the
Town of Fairfax authorize the
Fairfax Selectboard to
secure a
20-year bond for the sum
of, not
to exceed, $1,300,000.00 to purchase
land, design/construct a new
Town
Office Building? Total interest
payment will be approximately
$450,000.00.
1. Article 3
So,
Article 3 asks to borrow an amount
not to exceed $1.3 Million
The
estimated interest to pay back $1.3
Million
over 20 years is $450,000. So the
total
estimated cost is $1.75 million.
The
land and design portion ($200,000) would be paid back over 5 years. The construction portion ($1,100,000) would
be paid back over 20 years
Cost
projections are based on an interest rate
of
3.24% quoted by the Vermont Bond Bank.
This
percentage is subject to change. Lower
cost
financing will be sought.
1. Article 3 (continued)
The
figures showing the increase on local tax are based on the total amount of
$1,750,000.,
not
just on the $1,300,000.
To
remind you, the estimated tax
on a
property
in Fairfax would be:
First
5 yrs Years 6-20
Property Average
Average
Assessed
Value Cost Cost
$100,000 $29.45 $20.04
200,000 58.90 40.08
300,000 88.35 60.12
400,000 117.80 80.16
500,000 147.25 100.20
2. History
a. 1942
Agreement - School to provide
space for Clerk, Treasurer and Vault
b. Town Office in School
c. 1990s? Town Office moves to
current school-owned building
d. 2007 Engineering Study identifies
$123,000 worth of needed repairs
e. 2008 Town agrees to 20 year lease,
Town responsible for all costs
f. 2010
major water problems in
the basement
g. 2011 Voters reject 9.9 acres for
$250,000 by margin of 416 to 397
h. 2011 Town Office Committee formed
3. Committee decided it needed to:
a. Understand why the vote failed
b. Study the needs
c. Estimate the cost
d. Analyze the options
e. Involve and educate the public
f. Make recommendations to the
Selectboard
4. Why did the vote fail? The Voters told us:
a. The need was not clear
b. 9.9 acres seemed like too much land
c. Other options needed to be considered
d. The total cost of the project needed to
be determined
5. The Need
a Major repairs in the existing office
b. More vault space
c. More and larger office and
storage space
d. Larger conference room
e. More parking
6. The Needs were quantified
a. Each department was surveyed
b. Current space is approximately 2500
square feet
c. Preliminary survey showed the
future need for 5760 square feet
d. The vault would more than double
recording stored in the vault has
doubled since 1998
e. Conference room for 50 people was
included
f. 40+ parking spaces were included
we currently have 8 spaces and
8 employees
Office Space Comparison (Sq. Ft.)
Current Proposed % Increase
Clerk/Treas.
213 391 84
Research 225 486 116
Vault 165 372 125
Listers 300 373 24
Sm. Conf. 187 294 57
Utility Dept. 106 144 36
SB Assist. 115 132 15
Zoning 232 404 74
Board Rm. None 778 ---
Town Mgr. None 132 ---
Recreation None 100 ---
Subtotal 1543 3606 133
Other 957 2157 125
(Closets
Hallways
Stairs
Display
Toilets
Technology
Kitchen
Storage
Mechanicals)
Total 2500 5760 130
7. A professional
Estimator
Dog River Associates
Northfield, Vermont
a. They gave
us their estimate for a
5760 square
foot building
b. It is a
seven page estimate and
probably contains some elements
we might
not need but we have
used their estimate as the basis for
Article 3.
c. Until we
hire a professional to do
a comprehensive design based
on a complete and thorough
analysis, we have agreed to base
our cost proposal on the data we
collected so far.
8
Findings
We presented our findings
to the Community and solicited input
a. September - Five options presented
these three were eliminated
1.
Pomichter property on Butler Street
2.
Boissoneault property across from
Country Pantry
3.
The Current Town Office
a.
The School would not sell or
perpetually
lease it to the Town
b. There is inadequate room for
the needed expansion
c. The cost was comparable to
new
September
Preliminary Cost Estimates
($000)
ITEM Option 1 Option 2
Option 3 Option
4 Option 5
(White House) (Young) (Pomichter) (Boissoneault) (Langelier)
Acres None 2 +/- 4.4 2.5 2 +/-
Land 0 150 148 225 210
Road
Const. 0 20 20 10 10
Parking
Const. 40 40 40 40 40
Site
Prep. 50 50 50 50 50
Bld.
Design 50 50 50 50 50
Bldg Const. 450 864 864 864 864
Bldg
Repair 300 0 0 0 0
Bldg Renovat. 200 0 0 0 0
Sewer and
Water 10 40 20 40 20
Permitting 5 10 5 10 10
Temp.
Quarters 50 0 0 0 0
Moving 20 10 10 10 10
TOTAL 1175 1234 1207 1299 1264
Town
Office Preferences
White House
Young Pomichter Boissoneault Langelier
5 2 3 4 1
5 4 2 3 1
3 1 4 5 2
5 2 1 4 3
5 1 4 2 1
5 1 3 4 2
5 3 4 1 2
5 3 4 2 1
5 2 4 3 1
5 2 3 4 1
5 1 3 4 2
5 1 4 3 2
3 3 3 2 1
5 3 4 2 1
5 3 4 2 1
5 1 2 4 3
5 4 3 2 1
1 2 2 2 2
5 1 4 3 2
5 1 4 2 3
5 3 4 1 2
5 1 4 2 3
5 2 4 3 1
5 1 2 4 3
5 2 1 3 4
5 1 3 4 2
122 51 83 75 48
Note: The lowest numbers are the most
preferred
8. Findings (continued)
b. December - Two options
(Young and
Langelier)
were presented, with costs
and Pros and Cons The community
was split fairly evenly
December
Preliminary Cost Estimates ($000)
ITEM Option 1 Option 2
( Young) (Langelier)
Acres 2 +/- 2+
Land $ 150 $
210
Road Const. 20 20
Parking Const. 40 40
Site Prep. 50 50
Bld. Design 50 50
Bldg Const. 864 864
Sewer and Water 40 30
Permitting
10 10
Moving 10 10
Landowner Contribution -22
____ ____
TOTAL 1212 1284
December
Pros
and Cons
Langelier Parcel
Pros:
sewer and water lines nearby
right of first refusal on additional land
visible from Main Street
Cons:
price per acre ($210,000 for 2 acres)
outside the current Growth Center (potentially higher
loan interest rate)
no sidewalks on Buck Hollow Road
further from the existing sidewalk network
busy road with high speed traffic
bad intersection at bottom of Buck Hollow Road
Young Parcel
Pros:
lower purchase price ($150,000 for approx. 2 acres)
within the Growth Center (possible preferential
financing)
easy walking distance from village
sidewalks to the boundary
sewer and water lines nearby
right of first refusal on additional land
current buildings to removed by the Youngs
adjacent to Fire Dept. and potentially the Rescue
Squad
Cons:
access road (Rich Street) to be taken over by the
Town
(must meet Town Standards or be upgraded)
not visible from Main Street
possible contamination from prior shop, but
is being addressed at no cost to
the Town
8. Findings
(continued)
c. February - After the
Selectboard
decided its preference was for the
Young parcel, a third Community
Discussion took place.
1.
Some members of the audience
were dissatisfied with the site
chosen
2.
Some members of the audience
felt the cost was too high
9. So lets review the Cost Estimate
(the not-to-exceed $1,300,000)
Cost Element Amount ($000)
Land 150
Road and parking 60
Sewer and Water 40
Site Work 50
Permitting
10
Moving 10
Design 50
Construction Estimate
General conditions 146
Site Work Covered
Permitting Covered
Concrete
88
Metals
1
Framing
62
Siding and ext.
Trim 29
Interior and General
Carpentry 17
Roofing and
Insulation 45
Doors and Windows 41
Finishing
94
Vault
53
HVAC and Plumbing 103
Electrical
76
Design
Covered
Overhead and Profit 70
Contingency (5%) 44
Total 1239
9. Cost
Estimate (continued)
In
our February Community Discussion
members
of the audience were concerned
that
the estimated cost of construction was
too
high.
If
we look at the construction portion of the
estimate
on the previous foil, it totals
$869,000.
If
you divide this number by 5760 square
feet,
you come up with approximately
$151
per square foot.
10. Summary
The need is real, and pressing. If we
are
forced to spend money on the current
office, and then leave, we will have
spent
more money than needed
The options were studied carefully
The community participated in the
process
We understand that the project is
expensive
and that times are tough for many
people,
but the longer we wait the more likely
it is
that the project will become more
expensive.
If we have a crisis and no place to go,
we could
be in trouble.
Please consider voting Yes on Article 3