Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180348
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A/8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Council's concern is appropriate. The projected cost of renovating seven of the city's oldest schools - Forest Park, to be done next school year, is No. 4 on the list - has nearly doubled since 1987. And like any municipal expenditure, debt retirement is more of a strain in lean times than flush.
But there's nothing sudden about the rise in renovation costs; nothing that, by this late date, should come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention; and nothing particularly difficult to understand about it.
A bit of the increase is due to inflation. More than a bit is due to unanticipated expenses of renovation, including asbestos abatement in 1988-89 at the first school to be renovated, Highland Park. And much of it is due to the adding of new items approved - and in a couple of instances, instigated - by council.
There is history, too, to consider. Despite declining enrollment, Roanokers in the mid-'80s chose a path of higher cost, making plain their preference for renovating older schools to closing them. In November 1987, a comprehensive bond issue including $3.2 million to help pay for the renovations easily won approval from city voters.
The fear then was, and still should be, that boarded-up, deteriorating buildings in the middle of residential areas could turn enrollment decline into enrollment disaster. By weakening neighborhoods, empty schools might encourage a mass exodus from the city of younger middle-class families.
The enrollment decline has continued, as elsewhere in Western Virginia. But there has been no mass exodus, and the city's capacity - so far - to retain a sufficient number of those families surely is one reason among many for the schools' ability to maintain a high level of quality in the face of trends that have devastated weaker school systems.
At the time of the referendum, cost of the renovations was still pegged at the original, preliminary figure of $8.6 million. But by May 1988 (as council members ought to know, since council went along with the revised figures), more detailed studies had raised the estimate to $11.7 million.
Council members also ought to know that the cost estimate by the spring of last year had risen to $15.2 million. And they should know that those extra dollars have gone to pay for such council-approved items, not initially included, as land acquisition at Highland Park and Oakland schools, enlarged cafeterias at Highland Park and Crystal Spring schools and new classrooms at Crystal Spring.
No question, serious issues are at stake.
In tight budget times, should the city defer school renovations so other needs can be met - or plow ahead while construction contractors are presumably hungry and so prepared to submit bottom-dollar bids? Should the city, if need be, raise taxes - or put aside efforts to attract residents who are not rich, not poor and not elderly?
Feigned shock at old news isn't much of a start at finding answers.
by CNB