A public hearing regarding the Environmental Protection Agency Clean School Bus Rebate Program was held Monday prior to the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting. The gathering took place ahead of a community vote set for Tuesday, March 18, in the Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School STEAM Room from 2-8 p.m.

The vote, if successful, would permit the school district to take out a Bond Anticipation Note in the amount of $236,000 to cover the local share of purchasing two electric school buses.

A similar vote failed to pass in September.

“Among the most common questions we’ve been getting is why there is a second vote,” Superintendent Joseph Reyda said Monday. “We do have a little bit more information now that we didn’t know back in September.”

Bemus Point Superintendent Joseph Reyda is pictured during Monday’s public hearing prior to the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting.

Since the first vote this past fall, Reyda said the district has learned it will cost about $2.5 million to upgrade its bus garage to support an all-electric fleet.

“However, the EPA rebate, that we did receive and is still available to us, unlocks incentives that will take that price down,” the superintendent said. “If we do not take advantage of that EPA rebate, we will lose all incentives associated with it.”

Reyda also used the hearing to clarify a recent change to “Disadvantaged Community” boundary lines by National Grid which removed the designation from the district, making it ineligible for 90% reimbursement to infrastructure work inside of the bus garage.

“Our district is still eligible for 90% reimbursement of infrastructure work leading up to our bus garage,” Reyda said. “Nothing has changed the proposition, and regardless of whether the state mandate is upheld or not, a positive vote allows our district to benefit from the purchase of two electric buses and charging stations with no additional tax impact.”

Bemus Point currently has 20 diesel-fueled school buses in its fleet.

A public hearing was held Monday at Bemus Point Central School regarding the purchase of two electric school buses and chargers.

Reyda said acting on the rebate award will ease the burden placed on taxpayers under the current New York state mandate that requires school districts to operate an all-electric fleet by 2035. Further, he said incentives that could come from accepting the award could allow the school district to upgrade the electrical service to its bus garage.

Under Phase I of the financial planning process, Bemus Point is looking to accept $400,000 from the EPA Clean School Bus Rebate Program. Reyda said the district has until April 14 to submit a payment request form.

Holly Griffith, district business executive, said two, 66-passenger electric buses are projected to cost about $846,000; adding charging and infrastructure costs brings the Phase I total to $1.04 million.

After rebates are factored in, Griffith said the local share comes out to $236,000. She said the community vote is to allow the district to issue a Bond Anticipation Note to borrow the money to cover the local share.

Reyda and Griffith said the purchase of the buses will have no tax impact on the district; the Bond Anticipation Note will be covered entirely by $156,000 in transportation aid and a $80,000 Federal Tax Credit.

“This is a net-zero cost for these two buses,” Griffith said.

Phase 2 would begin when the electric bus mandate goes into effect in 2027. Work would include utility and infrastructure upgrades to the district’s bus garage.

Six people spoke during Monday’s public hearing. Among them was Bemus Point Village Mayor Jeff Molnar, who encouraged district residents to vote “yes” next week.

“A ‘no’ vote doesn’t mean that the bus initiative is going to go away,” Molnar said.

For more information on the proposition, visit bemusptcsd.org.