BUCKSPORT – Voters will decide in November whether to authorize the expenditure of up to $1.5 million for repairs at Bucksport High School.

Councilors last week introduced the necessary ordinance that would send the question to voters at the November elections. Town Manager Roger Raymond stressed to councilors that the funds to be spent were existing funds from school department reserve accounts.

“The funds are available,” Raymond said. “The money does not have to be raised.”

The proposed repairs at the high school were outlined in a recent architectural survey of the building, and included a long list of items, according to Superintendent Judith Lucarelli.

The items proposed to be addressed in this project fall into three categories, she said. They involve replacement of the lower roofs on the building, improvements to meet federal requirements for handicapped accessibility, and security improvements including double-sided locking doors on classrooms.

Lucarelli said the school committee has not recommended moving forward with the largest project included in the report, the removal of the exterior glass-block wall on the school. Removal of the wall, she said, would trigger several other projects including a major roof replacement on the building’s main roof and other upgrades to meet current codes. Combined, those projects would cost an estimated $5 million.

The main roof of the building is fairly new, Lucarelli said, and the school committee chose to put that project on hold at least until the main roof was closer to the time when it needed to be replaced.

Also, it did not make sense to get into such a major construction project while the school department was in the process of forming a new school district.

“You don’t want to go into a $5 million project until you know what that configuration is going to be,” she said.

The initial estimate on the projects being proposed was $1.1 million.

“Those are not firm bid prices,” Lucarelli said.

So the amount requested from voters has been increased to $1.5 million.

“It could be less than that,” Raymond told councilors.

In response to questions from the public about the impact of consolidation on the high school, Raymond indicated it was unlikely that the town will have to construct a new high school to accommodate students. Most of the students in the proposed Regional School Unit under consolidation already attend Bucksport High School, he said, and fewer students attend the high school than did several years ago.

The ordinance the council will consider includes the requirement that all major disbursements from the funds have authorization from the council.

The council will schedule a public hearing on the proposal.