MERIDEN - The City Council Finance Committee on Tuesday approved millions in bonding for capital projects, the biggest of which is the addition of a full-day kindergarten to Hanover School.

The committee had approved $12.7 million in bonding as of 9 p.m. Tuesday, though the meeting had not concluded by that time. The bonding authorization still needs approval from the full City Council.

The Finance Committee voted 4-1 to approve the $7.3 million in borrowing needed for the eight-classroom kindergarten addition being planned for Hanover. Officials estimate that the project will cost Meriden taxpayers just over $1 million, since the city expects to receive an 84.14 percent reimbursement from the state.

The addition would be staffed with four teachers and would serve between 160 and 180 children.

Walter A. Shamock, the only councilor who voted against the kindergarten bonding, questioned how the school district could discuss adding classroom space at the same time when it is talking about laying off teachers. He added that the school district has been receiving tight budgets recently that would make it hard to support an expanded kindergarten program.

"With the board getting less and less, I just have a very, very hard time appropriating this kind of money," he said.

The school district estimates that the kindergarten, in 2008 dollars, would cost $353,000 a year to operate, a figure that includes salaries, benefits, electricity and fuel oil. School officials attending the meeting said they are confident they will be able to run the program.

School board President Mark A. Hughes said the district will likely be able to obtain grants to cover salaries for the full-day kindergarten. He added that the district will have a seven-year window to phase in the program, building up kindergarten staff over time.

School officials reiterated that they intend to absorb the operational costs of the program within the Board of Education budget. School Superintendent Mary N. Cortright said the pilot full-day kindergarten program at John Barry School has proven itself a "concentrated and concerted effort" at preparing children for reading and academics.

Finance board Chairman Brian F. Kogut said the council had already approved the concept of the project years ago. It also represented the most cost-effective way to provide full-day programming, given that the school district did not have extra space available, he said. Because the project must be reviewed at the state level, it will be a year before it can go out to bid.

The committee unanimously approved bonding for several other capital items:

- $500,000 for a new Fire Department pumper truck, for which officials expect to receive a grant reimbursement of $220,000.

- $865,000 for various parks, recreation and building maintenance projects. The money will pay for a host of items, such as a new fence around the city maintenance facility, roof replacement at the Parks and Recreation building at Washington Park and a life expectancy study for the roofs of all city buildings.

- The committee approved other nuts-and-bolts projects, such as a $400,000 boiler replacement at City Hall, $275,000 worth of HVAC work for the library and the $1.3 million upgrade to the Broad Brook Treatment Plant. The bonding also allows for city departments to buy new vehicles, such as a new combined plow and dump truck.

gmoore@record-journal.com

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