On October twenty second of this past month, an intense battle occurred at the Ipswich High School Performing Arts Center during the hours-long town meeting. What were these rounds of debate about? The answer is Article 7, an article focused around a 7.9 million dollar contract with the company NORESCO to make public buildings more energy efficient and eco friendly.
The hefty price tag of almost eight million dollars may seem like a risky venture, but according to the project overview from the town website, a significant portion of the funding will come from federal tax exemptions, a contractually guaranteed $400,000 in the first year of the project, and a 20 year bond for 6.5 million dollars. In regards to the typical Ipswich land owner, it’s stated that “ the tax impact of financing with a 20 year bond will be $19.50 a quarter for a total of $78/yr”.
The plan for the project is to make improvements to every municipal building and school in Ipswich with a strong focus on the middle/high school and the town hall. These upgrades include things like swapping the town hall to electric heating, LED lighting, and the boldest upgrade, a 3 million dollar solar panel carport over the IHS parking lot. These improvements will lead to a projected 34% decrease in carbon emissions from Ipswich owned buildings.
With both the “pro” and “con” sides of the PAC at the town meeting made some valid points along with some bold statements. When the citizens were given the opportunity to speak at the meeting, supporters said things like “a small increase in our taxes now will lead to less debt and less tax increase in the future” along with other valid points. People from the con side said that the article was too vague, with one man making an attempt to amend the article which was shut down by the meeting moderator. Other people on the con side said the proposal was “pie in the sky” meaning they don’t believe the energy savings numbers will be met or won’t help reduce the towns debt by very much.
In an interview with Lori LaFrance, the Ipswich High School AP Environmental Science teacher, she shared her take on how this article will affect the environment of Ipswich, taxes, and the culture of the high school. In response to the proposed amendment to the article, LaFrance stated, “I don’t think we should change anything; I feel confident that the people who pulled this together really looked at every aspect of this.” This sentiment was reflected in the final vote at the end of Article 7’s discussion, in which the bill met the required ⅔ majority to pass.
Weeks later, when the article was further voted on on the election day ballot, it actually failed despite gaining approval at the town meeting. There are a variety of potential causes for this; some of those include the potentially confusing wording of the question or lack of environmental awareness in Ipswich. In an interview with Charlie Quimby, the president of Ipswich High School’s environmental club, he states that “Although the article didn’t pass, I am confident that Ipswich will make strides to have a more positive impact on the surrounding environment in the near future.” This opinion is shared by many people in Ipswich who, despite setbacks, are holding their heads high and looking out into the future.
