BANGOR – City officials gave their initial blessing Monday to a $4.5-million preliminary plan to expand the crowded Bangor High School.

The City Council’s finance committee, without opposition, voted to recommend the proposal to the full council.

As a result of Monday’s vote, the council will hear public comment on the plan – expected to add about a quarter to the city’s tax rate – at its Dec. 11 meeting.

Robert “Sandy” Ervin, superintendent of schools, told the finance committee Monday that the time had come to revamp part of the 36-year-old building in order to accommodate a changing and more demanding academic program.

“We’re feeding them,” Ervin said, referring to the varied courses offered at the high school. “We need the space to teach them in. With no construction, the performance of students will inevitably decline.”

Under the tentative plan, about 15 rooms and a small lecture hall would be added onto two wings of the existing building. The size of the school’s library also would be increased by 50 percent.

Currently being reviewed by faculty, the proposal would extend the first floor of the high school’s A-wing to create space for four new classrooms and a foreign language laboratory. There is no language laboratory at the high school.

The renovated A-wing would also include new, full-length lockers to replace about half of the school’s smaller lockers.

A suspended corridor would provide an alternate route for students in order to alleviate congestion in the lower B-wing lobby, according to the superintendent.

The A-wing’s second floor would be expanded to create about six new classrooms, he said.

Plans also call for a second floor on the science wing that would include four new laboratories and a 100-seat lecture hall.

Although the school population of about 1,450 is currently within the design specifications, more rooms devoted to smaller special education classes and honors classes have made classroom space scarce, Ervin said.

The superintendent also cited the need to cut class sizes, some of which are “maxed out” at 30 or more students, as a reason for the expansion.

Funding for the plan likely would come by way of a 25-cent to 30-cent increase to the city’s tax rate of $24.35 per $1,000 in property value, according to city officials.

The estimates are based on repaying a bond at 5 percent interest over 20 years.

Ervin estimated that about half of that cost could be made up in tuition payments from out-of-town students, he said.

While some state funding might eventually be available for the project, Ervin said waiting for that money would postpone construction until 2005 at the earliest.

School officials hope much of the addition can be ready by next fall.

Before new construction could begin, however, the plan first must gain approval from the school committee and the city planning board as well as financial backing from the full council.

In order to borrow the money, six of the eight city councilors must approve.

City Councilor Patricia Blanchette, finance committee chairwoman, asked Ervin to keep the council aware of any new developments.

“If we’re behind it, people feel a little more supportive, and if we’re kept up to date, it’s easier for us to be positive,” Blanchette said. “It helps if we keep working together.”