To the editor:

The Barrington Committee on Appropriations will meet with the school committee to create a school budget for the next fiscal year, which will be voted on at the Financial Town Meeting on May 28.

Barrington taxpayers will face significant tax hikes this year, compounded by a $500,000 reduction in state aid to Barrington schools. Despite voter rejection last November and upcoming bans on artificial turf in 2029, the school committee is pursuing an expensive artificial turf field at the high school, which will have adverse effects on student athletes and the environment.

Now is the time to stop this wasteful endeavor.

The COA should not approve any school budget without first obtaining a comprehensive financial and budget analysis from the schools’ finance director addressing: 1) the cost of installing an artificial turf field; 2) maintenance costs and related funding sources, whether in-house or through contractors; 3) disposal costs at the end of the field’s useful life of 8 – 10 years and funding sources for this; 4) remediation costs if the field is damaged or washed away by a hurricane and funding sources for this; and 5) additional insurance costs and funding sources.

The school committee is parroting misinformation from the plastics industry. The truth is, that grass fields are a better alternative that has been in use for more than a hundred years and has no negative health or environmental impacts.

Barrington taxpayers deserve to know how their money is spent. The school committee must be transparent, and the COA should hold them accountable.

Andrew Reich

Nancy Hill

Hans Scholl

Marc Tatar

Kate Weymouth

Jessica Allen

Barrington

This letter was written on behalf of NoArtificialTurfBarrington and other concerned Barrington residents.