Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 13, 1994 TAG: 9408150046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most everyone would like to have a new high school, but the issue is whether the county can afford a $30 million bond issue.
And more to the point, whether a tax increase will be needed.
The Board of Supervisors is sharply divided over the issue. Supervisors Bob Johnson and Ed Kohinke support a bond referendum, but the other supervisors have reservations.
Chairman Lee Eddy said the real-estate tax rate might have to be increased by a dime if the county relies on real-estate taxes to finance a new high school and other school projects.
The tax bill on a $70,000 house would increase by $70 a year if the county real-estate tax rate were increased from $1.13 to $1.23 per $100 assessed value.
Eddy said he still has an open mind, although he said earlier that he doubted voters are in the mood for another bond issue.
Johnson argues that a $30 million bond issue would not require an increase in the real-estate tax rate because the county can get the money elsewhere.
Other potential revenue sources would include a tax on cellular phones and the sale of school property that would no longer be needed if a new high school is built, he said.
Johnson said the county might even consider selling Hidden Valley Junior High School to Roanoke.
Hidden Valley is in the city because an annexation court allowed the county to keep the school after the surrounding area was annexed by the city in 1976.
Johnson said there has been no contact with the city on the Hidden Valley school and it is just an idea at this point.
The proposed $30 million bond issue contains $20 million for a new Cave Spring High and $10 million for several other school projects.
The School Board gave the supervisors an alternative proposal for a $10 million bond issue that does not include money for the new high school.
Like Eddy, Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix said he doubts whether there is enough time between now and the Nov. 8 election to convince voters a new high school is needed.
"I'm sure that county voters will never back away from projects that are needed, but we need to make sure that we are making the best use of schools," Minnix said.
Minnix said the county's enrollment is projected to decrease by the year 2000 and that should be taken into consideration in the planning for a new high school.
"I won't sell our children short, but, by the same token, I want to use our funds so we get the most out of them," Minnix said.
Eddy said he did not want to take a position on the issue until he has seen the details of both bond issue proposals. Both contain $3.5 million for a new gymnasium and auditorium for Northside High School and $4 million for major renovations at several schools.
Kohinke, vice chairman of the supervisors, said he is willing to put the $30 million plan to the voters in November.
"Regardless of your views on the bond referendum itself, I strongly urge all of you to support putting it on the ballot for this fall," Kohinke said in a letter to other supervisors.
"I see such a referendum as being more than approving or disapproving a bond issue: I think it will also be a referendum on how the majority of our citizens really feel about our school system, and it will tell us a lot."
Kohinke said he is willing to support a bond issue for schools, even if it requires a "small tax increase."
The School Board will present the two bond plans to the supervisors on Aug. 23. The board said it will let the supervisors decide which one, if any, will be submitted to voters.
by CNB