A Gorham bus stops at the student drop-off entrance at the high school. The Town Council Tuesday loaned the School Committee $150,000 to start planning a high school expansion.

Gorham High School

GORHAM — The Town Council Tuesday unanimously approved a $150,000 cash advance loan to the School Committee to begin planning for an expansion of the aging high school.

The loan, to be withdrawn from the town’s land acquisition fund, would be repaid through borrowing for construction if the voters in a future referendum approve the high school project. It’s unclear now what a such project would cost, but it would run in the multiple millions.

The School Committee “is not looking for a Taj Mahal,” Superintendent Heather Perry told town councilors, who approved the advance 7-0.

The cost would be shouldered by town property taxpayers. Town Council Chairman Michael Phinney pointed out Tuesday that right now no state funds would be available.

Town Councilor James Hager, a former School Committee chairman, said similar, previous loans from the town to plan for the middle school and Great Falls Elementary School were based on state funding. “In this case, there’ll be no state funding,” Hager said.

Phinney said a proposed project at the high school would be a major renovation. “I think we have to spend the money to get the ball rolling,” Phinney said about granting the loan.

School officials have long hoped for a project to alleviate overcrowding at the school and classroom and parking shortages along and to upgrade athletic fields.

The high school opened 58 years ago and was last renovated in the 1990s to accommodate 750 students. When classes resumed last week, enrollment was about 850 students, up from 835 a year ago.

Several years ago high school enrollment had swelled to about 900 before declining. Projections indicate enrollment will rise to 955 within a decade.

School Committee Chairman Darryl Wright indicated Tuesday that district numbers were on the upswing. Wright told town councilors that the k-5 enrollment last week was 1,245 students, up from a projected 1,228.

Earlier this year, a feasibility study offered options for a high school project. With the $150,000 in hand, school officials have funds to hire professionals to begin designing a project.

In 2009, a committee had plans ready for a project designed to deal with the space crunch at the landlocked high school, but those plans were shelved.

On Tuesday, Town Council Vice Chairman Ronald Shepard asked Perry about the status of those plans. Perry, citing enrollment changes, said  earlier plans are not going to work.

An architect will produce new plans but the Town Council has yet to vote on providing a representative to serve on the architect committee. Hager said he hopes an architect would understand the availability of money for a project.

The tax rate will be drastically impacted by a project. “There’s only so much money in the bucket,” Hager said.

In a July 24 letter to David Cole, the newly retired town manager, the superintendent said a high school project was then targeted to be “no more” than $50 million.

A resident, James Means of Beatrice Drive, in a letter to town councilors on Sept. 1, wrote that most agree the town needs to provide quality education for students. “I also believe that the Gorham Town Council has been a very good steward of our tax dollars,” Means wrote.

“But I do not think that our School Department operates with enough regard to the taxpayers,” Means wrote, citing lack of repairs at town-owned schools as an example.

Means also suggested the town take over school facilities. “The School Department has a long history of ignoring capital needs until they accumulate and then request a taxpayer bailout with a referendum,” Means wrote.

Means urged town councilors to attach “firm requirements to any seed money.”

However, more planning money might be sought for developing a high school project.

According to an Aug. 21 letter to Cole from Perry, school officials could at a later time request an additional loan for seed money up to a cap of $249,000 to be under the threshold allowable under the town’s charter without voter approval.

A referendum to authorize a high school construction project would require Town Council approval.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or [email protected].