The timing and costs were right to begin field upgrades
Guest Column
Bruce Quinn
The Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Board of Education has just entered into a lease-purchase agreement to provide repairs and upgrades to our high school athletic fields. Subsequently, there have been quotes made, articles written, letters to the editor and other comments against the decision for improvements to our athletic complex. It is evident that many misunderstandings need to be clarified.
The first misunderstanding is that we are spending $1.5 million on a football field. This is not accurate. The lease purchase covers a lot more than artificial turf. The first $300,000 is for the replacement of the track surface. The track repair project was approved two years ago by the Board of Education by a vote of 9-0. The entire board, then and now, understood and supported the need for this project. The surface of the track is now worn out. There are places where the surface is worn to the bare concrete below. Our two town councils authorized $125,000 for the track repairs in April 2004 after a second question was defeated. The project turned out to be quite more expensive and includes additional track areas like the long jump, triple jump and pole vault. This $125,000, previously authorized, is being re-appropriated into the budget to assist with paying for the first-year lease payment.
The lease purchase also includes lights for the main stadium. Most high schools have had lights or added lights so that more people can attend school sports events. We wish to provide our public and students with that same opportunity. In January, the full board voted 8-1 to approve the engineering specs and to receive bids to add lights to the stadium. The lease purchase includes $204,208 for the new lights.
Among the many reasons the current grass surface has failed at the stadium is that the underground systems have deteriorated. The drainage system and the water supply system both need to be replaced. The lease purchase also includes $210,261 for the repairs to the subsurface systems.
These figures are accurate because the board sought bids and has awarded contracts for these improvements. Between the track repairs, the subsurface repairs and the lights - all of which nearly all of the board approved - the total is $714,469.
A decision on how to repair or replace the field surface needed to be made. The board's facilities committee discussed this on numerous occasions and received information from our engineer on the matter, and unanimously agreed we had to do something for this fall. It was estimated it would cost $225,000 to install a new sod surface over the entire football field. The bid for a new artificial surface was $619,555.
The board voted 6-3 to proceed with the artificial surface. They did this because of several advantages. First of all, the artificial surface allows for the entire project to go into a lease purchase program. With low interest rates - locked in at 3.91 percent - the project cost can be spread out over five years. It will only cost $260,000 or 1 cent in this year's tax rate, for the entire project. That 1 cent goes to 1.2 cents for the next four years. A grass field could not be lease-purchased and the entire project would have had to be paid in this year's budget for 3.6 cents on the tax rate to cover the $939,469 cost.
If the board put in a grass field, all we could play on the field is the five varsity, five junior varsity and five freshman home football games for the school program. Our local Pop Warner football team also plays up to four home games on five Sundays during the fall. It is this amount of wear and tear that helps damage the surface. In wet weather - as we had this past fall - the damage is even greater. One only has to look at the new grass fields at Middletown North and St. John Vianney to see the kind of beating grass fields take.
On the other hand, a turf field will be lined for not only football but for soccer as well. We can play 10-12 varsity boys and 10-12 varsity girls soccer matches on the field with no worry about playing conditions. Our local soccer league can use the field for travel teams in the fall and spring or even for the older children's recreational program. Our band can be guaranteed hosting its competitions without fear that the field will be ruined from a football game. Therefore, playability was a major factor in the decision.
Finally, there is the issue of maintenance and repair. The turf field will cost the district only $2,500 per year to brush the surface to keep it in top shape. The field is guaranteed for eight years and is expected to last 15-20 years. A sod field will cost $45,000 a year to mow, line, seed, weed and fertilize. Sometime around the eighth to 10th year of use it is likely the entire sod surface will have to again be replaced from overuse.
So in the long term - as well as in the first year - it was a better financial decision to approve a turf surface. It is not a luxury, but a better solution for our students and our public. It is financially right and it allows our students and our community more opportunities to participate in athletic programs.
We are not alone in making this decision, as other high schools - such as Raritan High School in Hazlet, Holmdel High School, Middletown South, Toms River North, Toms River East and Toms River South - have all joined Neptune High School, which was the first in our area to move into the turf field era. We have worked hard to improve the inside of our buildings in the past few years. It was time to do the right thing outside as well.
One other point must be made: our budget is at cap. The capital outlay portion of the budget is outside the cap. If the project were not included, the funds for this could not be spent on academics. In fact, the result of doing nothing would add costs to the regular budget, as all football and track and field competitions would have to be played at other schools. We have not sacrificed educational programs to make these needed repairs.
Bruce M. Quinn is the superintendent of schools for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District
Guest Column
Bruce Quinn
The Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Board of Education has just entered into a lease-purchase agreement to provide repairs and upgrades to our high school athletic fields. Subsequently, there have been quotes made, articles written, letters to the editor and other comments against the decision for improvements to our athletic complex. It is evident that many misunderstandings need to be clarified.
The first misunderstanding is that we are spending $1.5 million on a football field. This is not accurate. The lease purchase covers a lot more than artificial turf. The first $300,000 is for the replacement of the track surface. The track repair project was approved two years ago by the Board of Education by a vote of 9-0. The entire board, then and now, understood and supported the need for this project. The surface of the track is now worn out. There are places where the surface is worn to the bare concrete below. Our two town councils authorized $125,000 for the track repairs in April 2004 after a second question was defeated. The project turned out to be quite more expensive and includes additional track areas like the long jump, triple jump and pole vault. This $125,000, previously authorized, is being re-appropriated into the budget to assist with paying for the first-year lease payment.
The lease purchase also includes lights for the main stadium. Most high schools have had lights or added lights so that more people can attend school sports events. We wish to provide our public and students with that same opportunity. In January, the full board voted 8-1 to approve the engineering specs and to receive bids to add lights to the stadium. The lease purchase includes $204,208 for the new lights.
Among the many reasons the current grass surface has failed at the stadium is that the underground systems have deteriorated. The drainage system and the water supply system both need to be replaced. The lease purchase also includes $210,261 for the repairs to the subsurface systems.
These figures are accurate because the board sought bids and has awarded contracts for these improvements. Between the track repairs, the subsurface repairs and the lights - all of which nearly all of the board approved - the total is $714,469.
A decision on how to repair or replace the field surface needed to be made. The board's facilities committee discussed this on numerous occasions and received information from our engineer on the matter, and unanimously agreed we had to do something for this fall. It was estimated it would cost $225,000 to install a new sod surface over the entire football field. The bid for a new artificial surface was $619,555.
The board voted 6-3 to proceed with the artificial surface. They did this because of several advantages. First of all, the artificial surface allows for the entire project to go into a lease purchase program. With low interest rates - locked in at 3.91 percent - the project cost can be spread out over five years. It will only cost $260,000 or 1 cent in this year's tax rate, for the entire project. That 1 cent goes to 1.2 cents for the next four years. A grass field could not be lease-purchased and the entire project would have had to be paid in this year's budget for 3.6 cents on the tax rate to cover the $939,469 cost.
If the board put in a grass field, all we could play on the field is the five varsity, five junior varsity and five freshman home football games for the school program. Our local Pop Warner football team also plays up to four home games on five Sundays during the fall. It is this amount of wear and tear that helps damage the surface. In wet weather - as we had this past fall - the damage is even greater. One only has to look at the new grass fields at Middletown North and St. John Vianney to see the kind of beating grass fields take.
On the other hand, a turf field will be lined for not only football but for soccer as well. We can play 10-12 varsity boys and 10-12 varsity girls soccer matches on the field with no worry about playing conditions. Our local soccer league can use the field for travel teams in the fall and spring or even for the older children's recreational program. Our band can be guaranteed hosting its competitions without fear that the field will be ruined from a football game. Therefore, playability was a major factor in the decision.
Finally, there is the issue of maintenance and repair. The turf field will cost the district only $2,500 per year to brush the surface to keep it in top shape. The field is guaranteed for eight years and is expected to last 15-20 years. A sod field will cost $45,000 a year to mow, line, seed, weed and fertilize. Sometime around the eighth to 10th year of use it is likely the entire sod surface will have to again be replaced from overuse.
So in the long term - as well as in the first year - it was a better financial decision to approve a turf surface. It is not a luxury, but a better solution for our students and our public. It is financially right and it allows our students and our community more opportunities to participate in athletic programs.
We are not alone in making this decision, as other high schools - such as Raritan High School in Hazlet, Holmdel High School, Middletown South, Toms River North, Toms River East and Toms River South - have all joined Neptune High School, which was the first in our area to move into the turf field era. We have worked hard to improve the inside of our buildings in the past few years. It was time to do the right thing outside as well.
One other point must be made: our budget is at cap. The capital outlay portion of the budget is outside the cap. If the project were not included, the funds for this could not be spent on academics. In fact, the result of doing nothing would add costs to the regular budget, as all football and track and field competitions would have to be played at other schools. We have not sacrificed educational programs to make these needed repairs.
Bruce M. Quinn is the superintendent of schools for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District
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