The Lowndes County School Board met Thursday to work out details of a proposed bond issue, but the amount of the bond and the date it will be presented to voters remains unclear.
What does appear clear, is a tax increase is unlikely.
The board heard from Lowndes County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews, LCSD board consultant Jim Young and architect Joey Henderson. The three men presented financial breakdowns of potential bond values and financial outcomes for the project, which would fund the construction of a new New Hope High School, a centrally-located career-tech school for county students and upgrades to Caledonia and West Lowndes high schools.
The board requested that Andrews present them official financial projections for three different bonds valued at $39.9 million, $43.9 million and $47.5 million at the next board meeting on Feb. 13, at which point the board hopes to decide on a bond and a date to put it on the ballot.
Andrews laid out the district’s projected revenue over the next six years.
The district is expected to have an additional $6 million in its budget in the next three years, and an additional $6 million in the following three years. The projected $12 million is based on mill values and incoming taxes from local industries, according to Andrews.
Young told the board a bond issue of $39 million will require annual payment from the district of $3.3 million, and a $44 million bond would require annual payment of $3.5 to $4 million.
Young and Andrews both said they made their projections conservatively. Both said the bond issues would not require tax increases for county residents.
“We’re getting Mr. Young and the tax assessor to get back to us with some figures,” board president Jane Kilgore said. “We’ll look at those figures and with those figures we’ll decide if we want to go for a bond and will be included in that bond, so that we know how we can pay for it. Because we do not want a tax increase for any of our voters whatsoever.”
The school board had previously aimed to put the bond issue on a ballot on Feb. 3, but opted to delay until a work session could be held.
The bond in question is a reduced version of a $47 million bond rejected at the polls Aug. 26. That bond won 52 percent of the vote, but not the 60 percent needed to be approved.
The second bond is expected to include $25 million for a new New Hope High School, $11 million for a centralized career-tech center, $2 million for a new athletic field house in Caledonia and around $1 million in upgrades for the West Lowndes campus. The details of what goes inside the bond continue to be debated by the board.
Jacqueline Gray insisted more of the money go to West Lowndes; Brian Clark and others voiced alternatives to building a new, centralized career-tech center.
Kilgore said it is important for the district to get a bond on the ballot this spring, so the district can move forward for its students.
“Every year that we pass by, we miss a set of students,” Kilgore said. “It’s important that we meet and we get it going forward as soon as possible, so that we can meet the needs of Lowndes County and our students’ needs.”
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