ROCKY HILL - With less than a month until the proposed Rocky Hill intermediate school’s November referendum, senior town residents weighed in with concerns regarding tax impact and the long-awaited senior center project during a meeting staged by the Senior Liaison Committee last Tuesday afternoon.

       The group of seniors heard from members of Stay Invested-a local group and staunch proponent of the project-as well Superintendent Mark Zito and members of the Board of Education, who fielded questions from meeting attendees, as well as highlighting population growth-driven space needs.

       Rocky Hill district enrollment has been on the rise-with overcrowding at West Hill and Stevens Elementary Schools prompting additional portable classrooms to bring the total to 14-and there’s no indication of a slow-down in the next few years, according to Zito.

       In fact, it’s just the opposite, with NESDEC projecting a 250 student increase over the course of the next three years, he said.

       â€�"Best came scenario we’d be flat, but we’ve seen consistent growth over the past three years,” Zito said.

       So he and the Board are proposing 79,000 square foot intermediate school-for the district’s fourth and fifth graders-to be build out of the former Moser school site. The building would be designed to include both world language and STEM-oriented courses, and provide ample space for additional playing fields around the outside, proponents say.

       But for some residents, a red flag is the cost-$31 million after state reimbursement.

       When you break down the tax impact, however, it amounts to $221 more per year for the average $180,000 home-or, $4 more per week, according to Zito, who got the figures from Finance Director and Acting Town Manager John Mehr.

       Rocky Hill resident Bernadette Petroia said she doesn’t mind paying more taxes to support the school system, but she says she’s tired of waiting for a start on a new senior center-a project that was approved back in 2003.

       â€�"We don’t get raises in our social security, but we will accept raises in our taxes for our children, but when do the seniors get something?” she said.

       Her sentiment was echoed by other meeting goers, who described the current facility as tight, and inadequate for meeting a growing demand. There are currently around 6,000 seniors in town, and those aged 50 and over are the fastest growing population.

       Pat Hughes Walworth, a Rocky Hill grandmother, real estate broker, and alumni of the school system says that she can relate to both sides of the discussion. She spoke out in support of the project, but cautioned the town against waiting too much longer on the senior center.

       â€�"You’re correct when you say the foundation [of a town’s prosperity] is the schools, but over the past ten, fifteen years, the major question [from prospective homeowners] is what senor programs do you offer?” Walworth said. â€�"Seniors will want to stay in town or may want to move to town and they want to be independent.”

       Board Chair Frank Morse said that he, too, supports the senior center project, and that the discussion regarding the intermediate schools is not taking place to compete with that. With the entire community working together, the town can hopefully accomplish both, he said.

       â€�"We don’t look at this as the children versus the seniors,” Morse said. â€�"We have to work as a whole.”