Voters decisively chose to say goodbye to one part of Swansea’s past while preserving another at a special Town Meeting on Oct. 19.

 

By a vote of 743 to 217, those in attendance at the Venus de Milo banquet hall on Monday approved borrowing about $88.3 million to build a new middle school. They also chose to conserve Stony Creek Farm, an animal refuge that allows public access, by voice vote.

 

“It’s a good thing for the town,” said Town Administrator Mitch Ruscitti about the school vote, visibly relieved.

 

The new Joseph Case Junior High School will be the most expensive project in the town’s history, moving students from a nearly century-old building near the town hall to a state-of-the-art facility next to the current high school.

 

To pay back the loan, Swansea voters will need to pass a 30-year “temporary” tax increase that is on the town’s Nov. 3 election ballots as a Proposition 2½ override.

 

“This is a two-vote journey for this school to be done,” said Scott Holcomb, superintendent of Swansea Public Schools.

 

Swansea won’t be paying for the project alone. Its entire budget of $149,723,734 includes $61,444,746 from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, a state agency.

 

Despite the sticker price, construction is currently projected to cost about $117 million. The extra $32 million, give or take, are contingency funds; anything left over will reimburse the town’s share of the cost.