After negotiating a final price of $800,000, the town is continuing to move forward with the possible purchase of the LeSage property, located at 351 Copse Road and which abuts the current Green Hill Road school campus. The payment will come in the form of a special appropriation, but at the Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on Sept. 26, there was a discussion as to which reserve the money would be drawn from.

The possible purchase will be discussed at a Town Meeting on Thursday, Oct. 13 at the Walter C. Polson Middle School. The town has leased 4.7 acres of the property for the past 12 years for use as fields, and the Board of Education (BOE) has now requested the town move forward and purchase the land entirely.

The final $800,000 purchase price will be paid out of the undesignated fund balance in the general fund, but Selectman Bruce Wilson expressed concerns over not using money from the Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

“My concern is by taking it out of fund balance, we kind of sold this concept on the money is already identified in CIP,” he said. “We have taken the money from a separate fund and it is going to look like we have a bigger balance than we should in the CIP. I am concerned that we are going to look for a way to spend that money.”

Director of Finance Stacy Nobitz clarified that no funds had been designated in the CIP for this project, but certain projects listed had been identified as possible funding sources.

“The balances in the CIP were not originally dedicated toward this purchase,” she said. “One, I believe was for the Jeffrey School boiler, which was an approved LOCAP project, and because of everything going on with the school facilities study they kind of took a halt. When we were discussing this, the BOE said we could possibly utilize these funds.”

Overall, Nobitz said the undesignated fund balance is healthy, making it a good reserve to pull the funds from, rather than the CIP.

“After LeSage, the fund balance is still very healthy,” she said. “Our regulation states we should have a goal of 10 percent of our operating expenditures in our undesignated fund balance. After LeSage, the projected fund balance over and above our regulation is approximately $1.5 million [12 percent]. This is a very healthy fund balance compared to other municipalities in the state. Also, our experience with rating agencies shows that this is a very favorable factor in our AAA Bond Rating.”

Over the past 12 years, the town has invested $341,000 in lease payments on the property, including $180,000 that has been paid into escrow for the ultimate purchase of the property if it were to become available.

First Selectman Tom Banisch said it is important the town purchase this property.

“By purchasing this we eliminate the lease and we own the property where the fields are, so that no one else can put a claim on those fields,” he said.

Since the property became available, rumors have been circling over the BOE’s possible use for the land as one proposed option in the school utilization study includes building a new school, possibly on that property. While officials have said the school study is not a key factor in purchasing the land, Board of Finance Chair Joe MacDougald said the land is important to one option.

“At least one of those scenarios would be relying on this property because it abuts Jeffery School and Polson,” he said.

The Town Meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Walter C. Polson Middle School.