OXFORD – Voters in eight towns will go to the polls Tuesday to act on a request by SAD 17 officials to bond more than $1.1 million in capital improvement projects at six schools.

The approval would allow the district to bond $1,174,085. Only $412,00 of that would have to be paid back, and without interest.

The approval would not increase taxes, Superintendent Mark Eastman said at a recent public hearing.

“It’s pretty attractive terms,” he said.

Although the one-question ballot is a full-page question written in “legalese,” Eastman said it simply asks voters to let SAD 17 borrow the money.

The projects are all designed to address health, safety and American With Disabilities Act. They include spending $41,550 at the Harrison Elementary School to upgrade bathrooms and fire alarm systems and to provide automatic door openers; $193,000 for indoor air quality concerns at Oxford Hills Middle School in Paris; $143,400 for fire safety and $84,000 for handicap upgrades at the middle school.

Similar projects are scheduled for the Guy E. Rowe Elementary School in Norway where more than $130,000 in will be spent. Otisfield and Waterford elementary schools have handicap issues along with the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris.

Eastman told about 40 people at the public hearing that 10 years ago the district developed a capital improvement plan, and grants and other forms of money have been sought for it. Several years ago the state started a revolving renovation fund to let school districts take advantage of interest-free and non-repayable state funds.

The first project the district did was the Shaw Wing roof at the middle school.

“This was a wonderful fund to help us do that,” Eastman said of that project and others since then. They have totaled $1.5 million, of which $800,000 has been forgiven.

Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the fire stations in Paris, Norway and the town halls in Hebron and Harrison and the public safety building in Oxford.

Polls are open in West Paris, Otisfield and Waterford town halls from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.