Walt Shannon listens to a fellow school board member speak during the July 6 meeting. Shannon was a key player in Tuesday's meeting as he gave a presentation on potential financing plans for BHS.
The Montgomery County School Board, after struggling with the decision of where to sent students in the fall, now faces a new dilemma: Quickly crafting a long-term plan for Blacksburg High School.
Because Auburn High School and Auburn Middle School in Riner were the next two schools on the county’s list for renovations, the board must also deal with the potential consequences of not renovating those buildings, which both date to the 1920’s.
Finally, the board must consider the potential financial impact its actions will have on Montgomery County. Though it plans to meet with the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday, it is already worrying about the potential increase in taxes the supervisors may need to enact across the county to pay for the high school renovations.
The current real estate tax level, according to a presentation given by member Walt Shannon to the board on Tuesday, is 74 cents for every $100. The same presentation estimated an increase of 1 cent for every $700,000 added to a project.
Currently, the county has about $9 million left over from its two most recent construction projects, the construction of Shawsville Elementary and Prices Fork Elementary. That amount was $10 million, but $1 million has been appropriated to help offset the costs of transitioning Blacksburg Middle School students to Old Christiansburg Middle School in the fall.
Shannon said in his presentation that the county’s debt can only be 12 percent higher than its expenditures. Because of this, he said, the county can only borrow about $2 million during the 2011 fiscal year.
“The county has reached its borrowing limit,” he said. “The only way for the county to increase revenues is through taxes.”
The board’s four potential plans for dealing with the county’s high schools include:
— Repairing BHS for $14,464,000 and not dealing with AHS or AMS. This option would potentially not increase taxes because the board doesn’t yet know how much insurance money it will receive to offset the cost of repairing the collapsed gym.
— Building a new BHS, building a new AHS, and renovating the current AHS so that AMS students could utilize that building. This option is estimated at $124,556,000 with a potential tax increase of 13 cents.
— Building a new BHS and a new AHS, but not immediately beginning to renovate the current AHS for eventual AMS occupancy. This option is estimated at $102,010,400 with a potential tax increase of 10.5 cents.
— Building a new BHS for $57,456,000 and not dealing with AHS or AMS. This option would bring a potential tax increase of 6 cents.
School board members plan to bring these plans to the Board of Supervisors in Monday’s meeting. Various members voiced their support for different plans, but all seemed to have the financial burden of tax increases in mind.
“Option one is the only thing I feel like I can go with,” member Penny Franklin said.
Member Joe Ivers called the second option, work on all three schools with a potential tax increase of 13 cents, “astronomical.”
“Option two is out of the question,” he said. “I think we need to be fiscally responsible.”
Board member Wat Hopkins, also a communication professor at Virginia Tech, supported option one but called it a “stop-gap” measure.
“It can’t be our only option,” he said.
Although no decision can be made until after the school board meets with the Board of Supervisors, Hopkins urged members to not just consider construction costs but also other costs of operating the county’s schools.
“I have a problem asking for bricks and mortar when we’ve forgotten programs and people,” he said. “I can’t ask for 10 cents for construction without asking for raises.”
The Board of Supervisors meets with the school board on Monday, Aug. 2 at 5 p.m. in the Montgomery County Government Building.
A version of this article appeared in the Jul 29 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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"Repairing" BHS for $14 Million dollars is the "cheap and quick out" that will result in the
need for a new building costing far more than the current $57 Million. The two combined,
would collapse into a shorter lived repair and a sooner than expected replacement = the
county out at least $71 Million.
Make the investment NOW in a properly built facility that will last at least 30 years. And take a page from the new VT Carillion Med School in Roanoke which was designed and built in UNDER 5 Years.
A community the size of Blacksburg with 1,200 students can not afford to flounder between temporary facilities. You need to move on this NOW. Act efficiently and go for design-build methods that will reduce the cost. I don't believe this has to cost us more
than $50 Million to build a high school. That's bad accounting. Or Far too extravagant.
We aren't building a luxury resort - we're building an institutional educational facility.
Regardless - don't waste time on a temporary fix. Do it right.
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Unless we plan to condemn the building, the old BHS building needs to be maintained and kept safe. This exact type of penny-wise thinking resulted in old BMS building to be written off. Small amount to fix the roof wouldn't have resulted in the mold problems and disarray it now faces. So, either demolish it or maintain it.
The estimate for repairing old BHS building seems to be an overestimation. This typically happens when people putting together estimates don't like that option or they are padding the numbers for other reasons. I am assuming the biggest chunk is for the gym - which should be covered by insurance.
Repair the old high school and let voters decide if they want to pay higher taxes.
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BHS has a lifespan of like 10 more years. What will it cost us to build a building in 10 more years? 80 million? Invest the money now and stop this ongoing problem with that school that has been falling apart since it was built. The problem in the past is that no one has made the right decision to take care of that building. If the Board of Supervisors put it off on someone else they will just be like all the others that have put it off on them. If one kid gets hurt in that school, everyone of the board or supervisors and school board of today should have to take full responsibility.
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Thanks again for a well written article!
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Does anybody else notice that buildings built before 1950 tend to hold up for 100 years (like Auburn High School and Auburn Middle School) and are still running strong except for being too small due to population increases and not keeping up with technology? Not to mention they cost like 1/10 the cost of buildings today even if you take into account inflation. Why can't building contractors put up decent structures that have a lifespan of more than 30 years today? Maybe we need to not use the lowest bid system to hire incompetent contractors and get someone who can properly erect a building.
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