Approximately 50 district residents turned out to hear the school's final presentation to the public about the $20 million capital project going before voters Tuesday.

Cooperstown Central School board member Keith Additon and superintendent Mary Jo McPhail described the project and then opened the floor to members of the audience, many of whom questioned specific aspects and the overall wisdom behind the proposal.

The part of the project focused on the elementary school would cost $6,847,000 and would include renovations to the existing building, the construction of a new regulation-sized gym and the replacement of the playground "Kid City."

Work on the middle/high school would cost $7,684,000 and would include the shuffling around of office space to move the main office to the building entranceway and move the district office which currently blocks a fire exit, renovations to the five science labs, increased space for the choral/instrumental music instruction space and the construction of six new classrooms to allow for displacement of classroom space taking place because of other construction.

As part of the project, the bus garage would be torn down and replaced at a cost of $4,960,000. The new garage would include a work bay, two service bays, a wash bay, a parts/equipment room, a driver's room, bathrooms, a mechanical room and room for bus storage.

With interest, the project is estimated to cost nearly $32 million, with a local share of almost $11 million. The tax levy would increase by 8.32 percent beginning with the 2009-10 budget.

Members of the audience questioned the cost, financing and various aspects of the project during a question and answer period that lasted approximately 90 minutes.

Jim Brophy raised an issue many people have echoed in criticism of the project.

"I'm very concerned," he said. "There's one figure you have ignored: enrollment." Brophy questioned why the school would be expanding their programming and spatial capacity in an era which has seen continually declining enrollment. "I would like to commend the people who worked on this, but I just can't support it. I think this project has been talked to death."

Board of education president Betsy DelGiacco Jay said part of the reason was that special education students needed more space and that the school had to provide adequate space for an increasing variety of programs.

Barbara Pope, who said she once volunteered with the special education department, said the project still did not address special education needs and disagreed with using that as a justification for increasing space.

"Speech is still in a closet," she said. "There's been no additional space for the special education department (in this project)."

Brophy also questioned why some of the changes proposed in the capital project had not been done already, citing them as routine maintenance that could be done without a capital project vote.

McPhail said they had been completing routine maintenance plans throughout the capital project proposal process and that it was inaccurate to say they had been doing nothing.

Additon said it was financially advantageous to do some things considered routine maintenance under the umbrella of a capital project because the school would recover a higher percentage of state aid that way than they would if it were included in the general budgets.

Catherine Ellsworth said she was concerned about the way the school board was presenting the capital project and felt as if they were selling taxpayers short.

"I find it troubling you don't include what construction has happened over the years," she said. She said the current presentation made it sound as if nothing had been happening, which was "absolutely not true."

Additon acknowledged that inclusion of more of those facts would have been helpful.

Paul Clark, a CCS graduate, asked whether the school board had actually gone out and asked district residents what they felt was necessary to have included with the project.

"I think you guys might be out of touch," he said. "What do we really need?" Clark said that when he was a student, he graduated with a class of 120 - one of the largest ever - and that they did not have some of the spacing issues present and never had problems in the cafeteria.

Another member of the audience questioned whether or not the school board had looked at cutting some of the more expensive 41 sports teams as an alternative to a large bond.

Additon said it was not something they considered, but suggested the issue be raised at an upcoming budget meeting

Pat McBrearty asked whether it was wise to relocate the main office to the school's entrance.

"Isn't it less secure to have the command center right where a villain might enter the school?" he asked.

John Knudson, a principal with Bearsch Compeau Knudson Architects & Engineers, PC, said it was recommended to have the main office at the entranceway so that administrators could better monitor who was entering the building.

McBrearty also questioned whether or not the 8.32 percent tax levy increase would be in addition to whatever increases would take place as a result of budget expenditures.

Ben Massalona of Fiscal Advisors said this 8.32 percent increase would be an addition to the existing levy, but it would not be an additional 8.32 percent increase every year.

CCS graduate Carl Wenner said the school board was asking the people to pay "for things you've already acknowledged aren't necessary."

"The bottom line is we don't need it," he said. "In the end you're taking us for a ride."

CCS senior Quinton Hasak was the only member of the audience who seemed to support the project. He said he was no longer in the school's art program because so many people were taking them and they were too crowded.

The capital project goes to a vote Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the Sterling auditorium in the middle/high school.