Millerton Elementary building sale approved

MILLERTON — After three years of soliciting bids, the Webutuck Board of Education (BOE) recently approved the sale of the Millerton Elementary School (MES) building during its meeting on Tuesday, April 25.  The building was sold to Richard Lanka and Morgan Coy, for $275,000. Lanka and Coy were reached for this story, but opted not to make their plans for MES public at this time.

Located at 5833 South Elm Ave. (Route 22), MES was built in 1920 for the North East (Webutuck) Central School District. Following its last year of student occupancy in 2002, the building  was later leased to the North East Community Center (NECC) for its after-school, transportation and teen programs. The building has also hosted other NECC programs, such as the weekly High School Equivalency (HSE) English course, HSE Spanish and English as a Second Language.

According to Webutuck Superintendent of Schools Ray Castellani, the district has had to maintain the building and its various systems. As a result of leasing and operating the building, the costs of upkeep average $60,000 a year, which the BOE has never been able to recoup. 

“In order to bring a building to an expectancy that it is operational to the board, we would need to bring in a tremendous amount of money,” Castellani said.

He added it would cost more than $5 million to upkeep MES for the next three to five years. Part of the costs would include replacing the roof at $550,000, running the electrical system at $300,000, maintaining the boiler and heating system at $500,000 and maintaining paved  surfaces and sidewalks at about $250,000. 

“For many years, we’ve maintained the building in order for us to rent it, but like any other facility, it’s aging,” said Castellani. “We address needs as they come up, but the board needed to make a decision to either make the heavy investments or to sell the building.”

Describing the building as a “cornerstone of our community,” Castellani explained that the board wanted to see the facility put to good use rather than watch it deteriorate. The BOE previously discussed the idea of hiring a Realtor to sell the property, but in the end, it didn’t. During a meeting on Dec. 8, 2014, the board passed the original resolution to put the building out for bid with a minimum bid of $550,000. 

Since then, the board entertained a number of offers from potential buyers while following its fiduciary obligation to taxpayers, to sell the building as near to what is owed on it and to its appraised value. The board ultimately accepted the offer from Lanka and Coy. At $275,000, it was the highest offer by far.

The sale was discussed at the Tuesday, April 25, BOE meeting.

“I would have preferred that we try more traditional attempts to hire a real estate agent,” said Webutuck Business Manager Cynthia Hawthorne, “but we did have an offer made to us, and after bouncing back and forth with negotiations, the offer that was made was good to us.”

“This is a building that has been vacant for many, many years and there was substantial upkeep for us in terms of maintaining it,” added Castellani.

The entire school board voted to approve the sale of MES, with BOE President Kristen Panzer abstaining. Panzer abstained because of her past service on the NECC Board of Directors.

The BOE, meanwhile, hopes to close on the sale by Aug. 31, which will allow the NECC to operate its summer programs until the end of the season. 

Castellani said he was pleased to report that since the building was bought by a private company, the purchase will benefit the community by going on the tax rolls.