THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050473
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 79 lines
The Dare County Board of Education will request an estimated $59.5 million for school construction and improvements in the proposed May 20 bond referendum, according to figures released Tuesday.
The price tag provides for the construction of a second high school north of Oregon Inlet, a new K-2 school in Manteo and renovations at Manteo High School, Manteo Middle School, Manteo Elementary, Cape Hatteras School and First Flight Elementary School.
The Board of Education will hold a public meeting at 7 tonight at the Nags Head Fire Station to discuss the bond package.
The figure also includes about $7.1 million for maintenance to school buildings, and $2 million for land acquisition for future construction.
The estimate for all of the projects designated as ``immediate need'' construction by the school board, is $65.3 million. However, $5.8 million will come from the state. Last November, voters approved a statewide bond issue to help local districts with school construction.
The financial estimates, provided by the Wilmington consulting firm Boney Architects, conclude that it will cost between $21.6 million and $25.9 million to build a new high school to serve Dare County's northern beaches.
A new Manteo K-2 school would cost between $7.2 million and $8.7 million.
In figures provided by the state Local Government Commission and Dare County Finance Director David Clawson, a 20-year, $60 million bond, financed at an estimated 7 percent interest rate, would mean a slightly more than 6-cent rise in the property tax rate, peaking at 13.4 cents per hundred dollars of assessment in the fourth year of the bond repayment. That tax increase would gradually decline over the next 16 years to slightly more than a 1.3-cent surcharge in the final year of the bond.
However, on Tuesday, School Superintendent Leon Holleman said the tax estimates released Monday are not an accurate indicator of how it will affect taxpayers.
``I think what we have to do is to see how this will really impact the tax rates,'' Holleman said. ``The figures (released Monday) show an incline-decline rate, while most counties use a flat rate. And we have to include the operational costs. I'm confident that the finance people are going to give us an accurate representation of what the tax impact will be. We have to be mindful that this is a beginning, not an end. But I think this is a fair package.''
Dare County Commissioner Richard Johnson, a Manteo Republican, isn't so sure that voters will buy into the bond issue.
``I'm not opposed to a new school, but I personally don't think the voters will support it,'' Johnson said Tuesday. ``That 13 cents isn't the full figure, because it doesn'tinclude four to six cents for operational costs. That's close to 20 cents, a 50 percent increase in our tax rate. I know my father, who's disabled, and my mother, who's on a fixed income, can't afford that.''
Johnson also is concerned that the cost estimates will fall short of the actual cost of construction and operation of the new schools.
``There are just little things in these cost estimates that trouble me,'' Johnson said. ``If you want to buy land for schools in Nags Head, Hatteras and Manteo, I don't know if $2 million is going to be enough. Plus, there are no provisions for cost overruns.''
Johnson said he supports giving voters an opportunity to vote on the issue, as long as the school board properly informs the voters on the bond issue.
``I have confidence in the people that they will make the right decision,'' Johnson said.
Meanwhile, groups for and against the bond package have been formed to sway the public.
Bumper stickers reading: ``First Flight High School. I Believe'' have popped up on cars. A pro-bond issue group is forming in the county, and fliers appeared in at least one local bank this week urging bond supporters to turn out for Wednesday's meeting. In part, they contend that the bond is necessary to maintain economic growth in the county. They support two high schools.
And on Monday night, a group raising concerns about curriculum issues held an organizational meeting at a Manteo restaurant. Organizers said some 150 people turned out for the first meeting of Initiative for Responsible School Planning. Dare County Commissioners Geneva Perry and Richard Johnson spoke to the group.
The major concern of the group, members say, is to ensure equality in educational opportunities at all county schools. The group favors one high school, north of the inlet.