West Seneca officials outline $8.5 million plan to replace auditorium rigging, lighting and sound; board to consider May vote

West Seneca Central School District officials told the school board on Feb. 11 that all four secondary-school auditoriums need replacement rigging, lighting and sound systems and presented an $8.5 million budget estimate to do the work.

The board heard from district staff and Young & Wright consultants that rigging systems in the two middle-school and two high-school auditoriums are original to the buildings and failing, stage and house lighting is obsolete (replacement bulbs are scarce and costly) and audio systems are more than 20 years old and increasingly unreliable.

The problem is both practical and financial, the district said. “There are dead zones on our stage where there is simply not lighting,” a district staff member said, describing student performers who were left in shadow during recent productions. The district currently spends about $10,000 a year renting supplemental lighting to cover gaps, the presentation said, and some rental costs have come from student musical proceeds.

Young & Wright presented a building-condition-based estimate that puts the work at about $2 million for East Middle, $1.7 million for West Middle and $2.4 million each for East Senior and West Senior, for a total of approximately $8.5 million. The firm said the figures include contingencies and escalation to cover a two-year lead time for equipment and construction.

Business official Will Thiel said the district’s long-range financial plan and capital reserves could fund the project without immediately raising the tax rate. “We will use taxpayer dollars, but we’ll use taxpayer dollars that are already set aside in our capital reserve,” Thiel said. He said New York State building aid would cover a large share of the district’s debt service on bonded work and that timing the project to align with debt-service step‑downs keeps the effort “taxpayer neutral” in the district’s projection.

Consultants described two review pathways with the New York State Education Department timing shown: the standard SED review and a possible third‑party review to speed approvals. The district said it would push to start construction in summer 2026 to limit further cost escalation and to reduce the time students and community groups face unreliable facilities.

Board members pressed for clarity about scope, schedule and cost drivers, asking whether the work could be phased, whether a single contractor could do multiple sites to save money and what exactly is included (district officials said the proposal covers rigging, stage and house lighting, and sound systems but does not include aesthetic items such as seat or carpet replacement). “This is not an aesthetic project,” a district official said. “It is the critical functionality of those spaces.”

Superintendent (presenting staff) and Young & Wright recommended the board consider placing the project on the May 2025 ballot as an addition to the annual budget vote. The district said it would return with a more detailed scope, cost breakdown and schedule at future meetings and noted the board must adopt referendum language by the March 4 meeting to include a bond proposition on the May ballot.

If the board votes to proceed, the May ballot would include the district budget, bus proposition and the auditorium proposition; voters would decide the bond. The board did not vote on the auditorium project on Feb. 11; the presentation was for information and for the board to ask questions prior to any potential referral to voters.

The district said it would circulate more detailed cost breakdowns and schedule options before the next work session so the board and community can review alternatives before March.