>>Valley Patriot>> |
Last week, the City of Haverhill auctioned off more than 180 surplus properties through the auction house, Allyn Auction Company of Lynn. Hundreds of prospective buyers attended the auction, held at the Nicholas J. Ross Auditorium resulting in a windfall of $2.4 million for Haverhill.
Haverhill High School is presently on warning status of losing its accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The mayor said he hopes that this money will help the High School get off warning status. “The City of Haverhill has a massive bond payment due to be paid next year,” Fiorentini said. Mayor Fiorentini also said that Haverhill has the means of paying for those bonds until 2009. Haverhill’s bond payments rise from $200,000 this budget season to $500,000 in fiscal year 2006 and will increase again to $1 million in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. Mayor Fiorentini also said that some of the money raised from the auction will need to be used for one time expenditures. “Haverhill has critical needs in the school department, highway depart-ment, police department and fire department. What is not critical will be set aside for payment on the high school bonding project.”
Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan said he would be “thrilled” to put surplus properties up for auction, but added, “That would really be up to the City Council. I think it would be great to unload all of our surplus properties at once and put these properties back on the tax rolls. It could mean millions for the city.” However, at least one Lawrence City Councilor, At-Large Councilor Israel Reyes, said he would oppose any attempt to lump together surplus properties for auction. “If you auction off land, you circumvent the RFP (Request for Proposal) process. We take away the highest and most responsible bids. The element that is missing here is that the administration isn’t being as aggressive as they need to be.” Lawrence City Solicitor Charles Boddy said that any building project regardless of how it is purchased, would have to comply with zoning and planning regulations, as well as city ordinances. Mayoral aide Myles Burke said that he met with Rick Allyn of Allyn Auctions last week to discuss the possibility of a surplus property auction, but added, “without the support of the City Council, which we would welcome, it just isn’t going to happen.” “Right now we have about 60 surplus properties and there are 200 in land court. What a great win for the city if we could take the politics out of this process.”
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Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini
said that he plans on asking the City Council to dedicate
a portion of the $2.4 million to pay for the bond on
Haverhill High School. 
The
Mayor said he was “very excited by the results of
the auction” and has recommended a surplus property
auction to the city of Lawrence. 