DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997          TAG: 9702260454

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B01  EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND                    LENGTH:  119 lines

EDUCATION PROPOSAL GOES TO VOTERS IN MAY $59 MILLION PACKAGE OF PROJECTS WILL BE CONSIDERED AS SINGLE UNIT

The Dare County Board of Commissioners Tuesday afternoon voted 4-3 for a May 20 countywide referendum on a $59.5 million school construction bond issue.

The action came in a special meeting, called by Commission Chairman Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr. Tuesday morning, of the seven-member panel.

The vote means Dare County voters will decide whether to approve the original bond package submitted by the Dare County Board of Education.

Commissioners Owens, Doug Langford, Geneva Perry and Shirley Hassell voted for the referendum. Commissioner Joseph ``Mac'' Midgett, Richard Johnson and Cheryl Byrd voted against it.

Included in the list of projects:

A new high school to serve beach communities.

Renovations and additions to schools system-wide.

A new Manteo K-2 school.

Deferred maintenance on schools systemwide.

Land acquisition for future construction.

The board's action came despite a meeting Monday by three-member groups from the respective boards. The county board rejected a compromise proposal, which included a new elementary school for Cape Hatteras and a new school district administration complex, but removed the Manteo K-2 school.

Owens, in making a motion to approve the May vote, said the volatile nature of the issue made it necessary to move ahead.

``I initially thought we should wait to go on the issue until the first Tuesday in November. That was my mindset,'' Owens said. ``But I see what's happening to my county and I don't like it. I can't take what is going on under the guise of education.''

Owens charged that the county's children were being ``used like pawns'' on a giant chess board.

``Some people have said that this is the beach against the mainland and Roanoke Island against Hatteras Island. I think we should put the school board's original proposal on the referendum May 20 and let the people vote up or down.''

Later, in discussing the issue that split the county, Owens said, ``No one should be pleased. I'm just damn upset. It's appalling.''

But Byrd, one of two Republicans on the board, urged a coolingoff period, and a delay in the referendum until June.

``I still believe we're dodging our responsibility,'' Byrd said. ``Before we do this, we have an obligation to obtain additional information on costs that wehaven't received, and to determine if the numbers we've been given by the Board of Education are accurate. We have a responsibility under the statute to go line by line and make sure these figures are correct.''

But Perry, who had offered a compromise proposal on Friday, said that was not the commissioners' cross to bear.

``There's just too much bickering,'' Perry said. ``Those are their numbers and they are going to have to take the heat for it.''

Hassell also expressed reservations about the bond vote, but said the issue belonged to the voters. She had suggested that individual facets of the project be divided, and voted on separately. Commissioners rejected that idea.

``I am not happy about it,'' Hassell said. ``But the people have said we've got to get on with it. We have to let the people make a choice.''

In voting against the referendum, Midgett accused the school board of trying to ``bribe'' Hatteras Island voters with a new elementary school, in an effort to get a new beach high school. Like Johnson, he argued that the issue of a new beach high school should be put to a separate vote.

``They want to put a K-5 school on Hatteras Island to get a new high school on the beach,'' Midgett said. ``I think a new high school should be on the ballot by itself. I think the school board is looking back, and looking only at a high school on the beach and not at the needs of the whole county.''

Perry's compromise separated new construction projects - a Cape Hatteras Elementary School and a new beach high school - in the referendum. School renovations, additions to existing schools, and deferred maintenance would be funded by Certificates of Participation, or COPS. That funding mechanism could be done by a majority vote of commissioners. However, the Perry Plan was rejected by commissioners.

Johnson, the panel's other Republican, said separation was necessary for him to support Owens' proposal.

``Unless it's separated out, I can't support it,'' Johnson said.

Langford, who seconded Owens' motion, expressed disappointment that the Hatteras school was not included. He praised the school board for showing ``flexibility'' in the compromise effort.

Owens said it was now up to commissioners to show exactly how the bond, if approved, would affect voters' tax bills, and let them decide.

``I think everyone in this room has made up their minds,'' he said. ``The people who haven't made up their minds are the `Pocketbook Voters' who want to know how much it will affect them.''

Owens said that on some issues, the school board had been evasive.

``I'm still concerned about how you're going to staff a new high school with two additional teachers,'' Owens said. ``And though the board said it would be up to future boards to determine where a line would be drawn for the new school, they could say how they felt now. But as the man said, it's time to move forward.''

Three school board members - Vice Chairman Fletcher Willey, Susie Walters and Loretta Michael - were at the meeting.

``I am awed by the challenge. In 1988 (the year of the last referendum) I was a citizen. But now the school board has done its job, and the county commission has done its job. It's now up for the citizens to decide,'' Willey said after the vote.

It is up to county finance officials to determine wording for the ballot.

Each project listed on the ballot will include its estimated cost. However, the projects will be voted on collectively, by a single yes or no vote. The referendum wording will also include the impact on the property tax rate. Dare County's current rate is 40 cents per each $100 in assessed property value.

In all, the projects will cost an estimated $65.3 million. But $5.8 million will come from the state.

In the wake of Tuesday's action, the special meeting scheduled for today has been canceled.

Owens, deluged in recent weeks by contacts from constituents, put the issue in the hands of the voters, saying, ``I don't want any more phone calls or faxes. It's over.'' ILLUSTRATION: REFERENDUM VOTE

The vote means Dare County voters will decide whether to approve the

original bond package submitted by the Dare County Board of

Education.

Commissioners Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens, Doug Langford, Geneva Perry

and Shirley Hassell voted for the referendum. Commissioner Joseph

``Mac'' Midgett, Richard Johnson and Cheryl Byrd voted against it.

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