Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501260032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A majority of the Board of Supervisors is prepared to put the $20 million project to the voters.
Chairman Fuzzy Minnix, who cast the pivotal vote against a referendum last year, said during a joint meeting with the School Board on Friday that he now favors a vote.
Johnson tried to get the board to hold a referendum last November, but Minnix, Nickens and Lee Eddy opposed it. Ed Kohinke favored it.
Minnix, in opposing the referendum last year, said there wasn't enough time to educate voters on the need for a new school. All county voters, not just those in the Cave Spring District, will decide the issue.
Supervisor Bob Johnson said the county needs to proceed rapidly on the school, because the price is increasing by $1 million a year and the high school cannot be completed before 1998 at the earliest.
Supervisors already had approved $1.5 million in architectural and engineering fees for the project. Frank Thomas, chairman of the School Board, said the architects and engineers will be hired soon. A 39-acre site on Merriman Road near Penn Forest Elementary School has been acquired.
Thomas said the board will try to get an accurate cost estimate so there won't be complaints about overruns. ``We need to be correct, so everyone will know from the start what it will cost,'' he said.
Superintendent Deanna Gordon said a committee of educators, teachers and community leaders has been appointed to make recommendations on the school's design and educational programs.
Gordon said a new high school is needed so that space problems in several schools in Southwest Roanoke County can be resolved. Cave Spring High does not have space for ninth-graders, who go to Cave Spring and Hidden Valley junior high schools.
Responding to a question from the supervisors, Thomas said the School Board isn't interested in building two new school high schools in Southwest County instead of one. Two schools would be more expensive to build and operate, he said.
The joint meeting Friday was for discussion of revenue estimates and expenditures for the next school year, in addition to the proposed high school.
Again this year, the board will look to the supervisors to provide much of the money for teachers' raises, maintenance and other expenses, Gordon said.
``You came to our rescue last year, and we are coming to you for help again,'' she said.
Jerry Hardy, director of budget and data management, said the increase in state funds for the county for the next year is $763,692. That would provide a pay raise for school employees of about 1.5 percent.
County tax revenues are projected to increase by $4.2 million in the next year. The biggest increases will be in real estate taxes and personal property taxes on vehicles. Each category will increase by $1.8 million.
Last year, the county provided an increase of $3.3 million in local funds for the school system. The supervisors provided $2.5 million initially and another $800,000 after school administrators appealed for more funds.
School administrators said it's too early in the budget deliberations to ask for a precise figure, but they will need a substantial amount.
``We will be asking for your help,'' Thomas told the supervisors.
by CNB