Should more money be allocated to fund a new middle school building in Cromwell?
Taxpayers in town went to the polls Thursday to vote yes or no on that proposal and ultimately decided to approve the additional funds with 693 voting yes and 387 voting no.
Some voters say the building that houses Cromwell Middle School “has seen better days. It’s looking old and decrepit.”
The building is the focus of a construction project to build an entirely new school to replace it. In June, voters approved funding $58.6 million to the project.
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However, town officials say that’s not enough and asked voters to approve another $14 million. The reasons for the higher costs include the design of the school and inflation.
One taxpayer says he understands the issues.
“Everything’s going up and so are building costs and costs of materials and all that, so it’s a no-brainer,” Steven Carcia, a Cromwell resident, said.
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As a parent of two children, he wants to see them have the quality education they deserve.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer, right? I feel like towns, the school system and the quality of the school system is super important,” he said.
Another taxpayer voted no however.
“I still have a lot of questions that still haven’t necessarily been answered and that makes me nervous going into the future,” Jamin DeProto, a Cromwell resident, said.
He says he has no problem with the project itself, but felt different solutions should have been discussed once the higher estimates came in.
“Maybe a different contractor or something. Or maybe something we can do where you could make less compromises even,” he said.
Town officials say the turnout for this referendum was more than one for the town’s budget, which drew a few hundred people to the polls.
