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Referendum Monday on $5.6 Million HVRHS Project

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KENT—Referendum voting to approve or deny $5.6 million in improvements and renovations at Housatonic Valley Regional High School will be held Jan. 8 from 6 a.m. go 8 p.m. at town hall.

If approved, the resolution would also authorize the issue of bonds and notes to finance the appropriation. The impact of a new bond issue would boost the 2024-25 Region 1 budget by $138,859. In Kent, this would add $17,778 to its budget.

In the 2023-24 budget, debt accounted for 5 percent of a $17,031,827 Region 1 budget. That level would increase to 5.59 percent in 2024-25, and then drop to 4.23 percent of an anticipated $18.5 million Region 1 budget in 2025-26.

The proposed facilities upgrade was presented in a quiet public hearing held in early December.

The project has been under consideration for years, with Jacunski Humes Architects having provided a school facilities study in 2020.

Report in hand, the HVRHS Building Committee determined the 12 highest-priority projects among 58 areas suggested by the Jacunski and drawings and specifications were commissioned. 

Areas selected include renovations to the cafeteria and auditorium; science wing restrooms upgrades; improvement of the air handling and air conditioning systems in Room 133 and central office; rehabilitation of the crumbling tennis courts; installation of a whole-school generator; audio-visual equipment for the auditorium and cafeteria; masonry repairs around the school; installation of a new fire alarm and breaker boxes; and replacement of the cupola.

All registered Kent voters can vote, as can anyone who owns property valued at $1,000 or more on the town’s Grand List as of Oct. 12023.

Property owners are not eligible to vote if they purchased their property after Oct. 1 or if it is held in a trust of any kind, is a corporation, or an LLC.

Kathryn Boughton
Written By

Kathryn Boughton has been editor of the Kent Dispatch since its digital reincarnation in October 2023 as a nonprofit online publication. A native of Canaan, Conn., Kathryn has been a regional journalist for more than 50 years, having been employed by both the Lakeville Journal and Litchfield County Times as managing editor. While with the LCT, she was also editor of the former print Kent Good Times Dispatch from 2005 until 2009.

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