Melanie Lekocevic is reporting for Capital Region Independent Media the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district is asking its voters to approve in January a proposed $15 million capital project. “We approved a referendum and bond for a construction project,” Superintendent Brian Bailey said at the November meeting of the board of education. “January 9 is our target date for the vote. We have a lot to accomplish between now and then.” The district is planning to conduct outreach to the community, including mailings, and hold a public event in the weeks leading up to the vote to explain the project and the need for it. Community mailings are projected to go out in mid to late December, and will explain the scope of the proposed capital project and the impact on local taxpayers, Bailey said. “The impact on a $300,000 house is $15 a year,” he said. “That will likely help our residents feel more confident in the impact on their lives if we choose to do this referendum.” Bailey and John Sharkey, from Rhinebeck Architecture, explained the scope and budget of the proposed project at the October board of education meeting. “We are a fortunate district in that for every dollar we spend, the state helps match funds at 72 percent, so if we spend a dollar, they pay 72 cents of that dollar when we are spending it on construction,” Bailey said. The project was broken down into three categories — must-do, should-do and nice-to-do projects, he said. “...[W]e’re at a construction cost of $12,021,000, but to that you have to add incidental costs to the district,” Sharkey said. “We usually keep them at around 20 percent but because of escalation and price increases, we’re using an incidental cost of 25 percent and so the overall project cost would be $15,026,250." District voters go to the polls on January 9, and if approved, construction is expected to take place during the summers of 2024 and 2025. Read the full story at The UpStater [dot] com.