DATE: Wednesday, August 6, 1997             TAG: 9708060471

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, staff writer 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   71 lines

SCHOOL BOARD WANTS CITY VOTE ON REPAIRSTHE BEACH COUNCIL WILL BE ASKED TO PUT A REQUEST FOR $63.5 MILLION ON BALLOT.

The School Board wants a referendum on the November ballot to fund $63.5 million in renovation work at the city's eight oldest elementary schools and the study of 16 other school buildings in the division.

The Board voted 9-0 Tuesday to ask the City Council to put the measure on this fall's ballot.

The price tag for the work would cost taxpayers up to 3 cents more per $100 assessed valuation on the real estate tax rate. The current rate is $1.22 per $100 in value.

The city is also considering a referendum to benefit libraries that could add between 1.8 cents and 6.9 cents per $100 assessed valuation to Beach property tax bills.

The division has spent $400,000 to study the eight schools up for repairs first - Cooke, Creeds, Bayside, Shelton Park, Thalia, Woodstock, Kempsville Meadows and Louis Luxford.

Those studies revealed the need for massive renovations, which city officials said they could not afford. They suggested the matter be put on the November 1998 ballot. But at a School Board retreat in July, the possibility of the earlier date was raised.

At a meeting last week, Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney suggested the division hold off on both the modernization referendum and a proposed measure to create a dedicated tax stream for technology.

Jenney said at that time that there were still too many questions about the technology measure, that putting both measures before the public could doom one to failure, and that running one without the other might send the message to voters that one was a priority while the other was not.

The board agreed to back off on technology. But during the dinner break and meeting Tuesday, discussion focused on the modernization referendum, its timing, and the public's potential receptiveness to it.

Board members discussed the need to be unanimous in whatever decision they made, and a straw poll showed that moving ahead with the modernization referendum had a majority backing.

Board member Dan Arris raised concerns about the series of tax increases residents may face in coming years and said he saw merit in Jenney's suggestion of waiting a year and combining modernization and technology into a single ballot measure.

Still, he decided to go for the renovation referendum this fall.

``I realize that it's a risky thing, but I think we have a slam-dunk on modernization,'' he said.

Board member D.A. ``Al'' Ablowich, sitting in on his first board meeting since being appointed to the Pungo seat, said the renovation needs were real, but the short time until Election Day might make it difficult to prove the case.

``You'll have to go out and do a hard sell on a lot of people,'' he said.

Board members Delceno C. Miles and Arthur Tate were not present for the vote, although Tate attended board sessions earlier in the day.

The division last took a building referendum before the voters in 1989, when local residents approved spending $68.4 million to build four schools, modernize two others, make additions and buy land.

If the council agrees to place this measure on the ballot and voters approve it, the funding would affect every school building in the Beach built before 1970 that has not already had renovation or addition work.

In supporting the measure, board member Rosemary Wilson said the division has done its homework on the schools and found the need to be real.

``It's never an easy time to ask for money,'' she said. ``We take it to the taxpayers and the voters, and they decide.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

FACT THE $63.5 MILLION EXPENSE WOULD COST TAXPAYERS UP TO 3 CENTS

MORE PER $100 ASSESSED VALUATION. KEYWORDS: REFERENDUM VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS

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