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February 17, 2012

Our View: Danvers rewarded for smart building policy

North Shore taxpayers might want to take note of the bonus the town of Danvers has received from the state's School Building Authority for its very effective school maintenance program.

Unlike most communities, in Danvers, maintenance of schools and other public buildings has long been the responsibility of a single agency. And while the benefits can be hard to quantify, in this case it has yielded the town almost $600,000, which represents the hike in state reimbursement high school renovation project now under way.

By demonstrating to SBA officials it has a detailed plan for maintaining the new facility going forward, the town was able to hike its reimbursement rate by almost a point to 57 percent of the project's cost. And based on the $71 million estimated expense, that's a savings to the town of better than a half-million dollars.

While school officials are often reluctant to cede control of maintenance functions, having a single agency — usually the public works department — assume responsibility for all such operations makes sense and saves taxpayers money. It's something certainly Peabody should consider as it negotiates with the state for funds with which to build a new middle school.

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