Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160115
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
School officials were getting antsy awaiting word on how - or whether - the city plans to pay for more than $1 million in school additions and improvements the School Board proposed last fall for a possible bond issue.
Monday, Superintendent Michael Wright and Board Chairman Guy Gentry sat and waited some more, hoping to hear that City Council planned to move forward soon with a bond issue or other long-term funding, which council authorized City Manager Robert Asbury Jr. to seek 10 months ago.
"You just write us a check, and we'll leave," Gentry joked as he finally got to address council near meeting's end.
Mayor Tom Starnes conceded that council "tacitly agreed to provide up to $1 million for top-priority items," but Gentry and Wright went home with nothing more than a promise to put the item on the agenda for a joint School Board-City Council session next month.
Things could look brighter then, Starnes hinted Tuesday. "We'll probably say, 'Yeah, go ahead and start with the design ... and we'll cover it up to a million dollars, in that range,'" the mayor said.
Asbury suggested Tuesday the pair was right to expect something more. "The schools have been given the impression that council was considering the issuing of bonds," he said.
While "the stress level is increasing with the schools," it's been a case of "lots of discussion, no action," he said.
Council again asked Asbury to look into how to pay for the projects, but Asbury suggested Tuesday the ball's in council's court and that borrowing the necessary money is only a resolution away.
In January, in response to Asbury's inquiry, the Virginia Loan Pool indicated the city could borrow up to $6 million for various city projects, including the schools' and to upgrade the city's water treatment plant. Council has yet to take advantage of the money.
Now that interest rates have shot up, "they're looking at higher rates the longer they wait," he said.
"If they're ready to pull the trigger on this, the quickest way is to use this Virginia Loan Pool."
Gentry reacted more cautiously Tuesday. "I had hoped we'd get into maybe a little more in-depth discussion," he said. "It's a slow-moving process. We have to be patient."
The schools hope to get enough money to add seven new classrooms, including four computer labs, Wright said.
Starnes said Tuesday council has yet to decide what part of the initially proposed $6 million would be long-term borrowing and what might come from other city accounts, including the sewer and water enterprise funds, already the source of money for some preliminary water plant project work.
But, "you don't want to totally deplete those funds," he cautioned.
The city also needs to figure out how to pay for major improvements to court facilities, said Starnes, who didn't have a cost estimate.
In other action Monday, City Council:
Gave initial approval to an ordinance to raise the pickup fees for dogs and cats at the animal shelter to head off abuses. "People let us pick up their animals just to [board] them," Deputy Police Chief Jonny Butler told council, because the city's fees are lower than those local veterinarians charge.
Voted 3-1 to give final approval to adjust the Department of Welfare and Social Services 1995-96 budget upward by $25,334.
Appropriated $957 as the city's contribution to New River Valley HOSTS for tourism development.
Agreed to spend nearly $448,000 from ice storm damage reimbursements to pave the road and five parking areas in Bisset Park and to purchase new Public Works Department equipment, including a new solid waste truck and compactor and a street sweeper that's been "down for almost a month," according to City Engineer Jim Hurt.
Approved McCraw Real Estate as the auctioneer to dispose of the city-owned Camp Coffee property in Pulaski and Montgomery counties.
by CNB