The Lowndes County School District Board of Trustees met Tuesday to approve the district budget for the 2015-2016 school year and authorized the issuance of the $44 million in bonds voters approved in May.
The board also heard a presentation from Golden Triangle Early College High School and took action on active construction projects.
LCSD business manager Lotis Johnson said the district is projecting $53,930,068 in revenues and $121,353,580 in expenditures at the public budget hearing last week. The discrepancy comes from $62 million in construction costs budgeted for FY2016, including the $44 million in the bond issue passed by voters May 12. Johnson said she had to account for that money somewhere in the report and listed it as an expense under construction. The majority of the money will be needed for the projects in 2017, according to architect Joey Henderson.
Board vice president Bobby Barksdale motioned to approve the budget and was seconded by Wesley Barrett. The budget passed 3-1 with Jacqueline Gray voting in opposition. Board member Brian Clark was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
Bond issuing begins
The board voted 3-1 to authorize issuance of the general obligation bonds for the $44 million bond issue passed by voters May 12. Gray opposed. The board has decided to issue all the bonds at once, on the recommendation of LCSD consultant Jim Young.
“The biggest risk is the interest rates moving up and down,” board attorney Jeff Smith said. “That is why Mr. Young is recommending we issue all at once.”
This does not mean any of the bonds have yet been sold. That process will require further authorization at the July 10 meeting.
To ensure the bond issue is paid off properly, the board voted 3-1 to set aside funding specifically to do so. Gray opposed.
“You’re going to spend 65 to 70 percent of your new money to pay off the bond issue, that’s going to leave you a lot of money,” Smith said. “This is strictly going to restrict those funds in the future, set them aside, so that you can pay off the bond early if you want to. But most of all this lets the citizens who voted for the bond issue know that in fact the board is not wasting their money, but is setting money aside to pay the bond off.”
Construction updates
Henderson presented the board an update on current construction projects Tuesday.
The primary focus was on the new New Hope High School building. Expected to cost $26 million, which was included in the bond issue, the new building faces geographical hurdles before completion.
Henderson explained that the site the new building is planned to go on has a long ditch running through the property that leads to a stream. He said the environmental specialists at his firm gave two recommendations for dealing with the wetland issue: either spend $40,000 on a minor land adjustment that may lead to future issues or spend $310,000 to totally mitigate the problem and raise the land.
“Given the constraints it’s going to throw us into now and in the future, when we’re trying to do expansions later on, I would recommend the board consider doing the full mitigation,” Henderson said. “Like I said, it’s estimated at $310,000 and it’s going to take about 150 days to do. If we can begin that process, it really shouldn’t affect our construction dates.”
Barrett said the board might want to totally mitigate the problem going forward and made a motion to approve the $310,000 to do so. He was seconded by Barksdale and the motion passed 3-1 with Gray opposed.
The money will come out of the $26 million alloted for the high school’s construction.
The board also approved the paving of the fieldhouse parking lot at New Hope. It will cost $12,000.
Early College High School
The board heard a presentation from the Golden Triangle Early College High School.
Located at East Mississippi Community College’s Mayhew Campus, GTECHS will be the first school of its kind in Mississippi. The inaugural class includes 62 high school freshman, equally taken from Noxubee County School District, Starkville School District, West Point School District, Columbus Municipal School District and LCSD. Students will have the opportunity to take college-level courses while pursuing high school diplomas.
Mississippi Department of Education associate superintendent Dr. Jean Massey asked the board if LCSD would serve has the host district of GTECHS in its inaugural year. Massey said the school needs a host school board that can authorize claims dockets and accept hires and manage state benefits.
Smith assured the board that the agreement would have no affect on the district and would be similar to the agreement they have with the Greater Columbus Learning Center.
No action was taken, but the board is expected to approve the arrangement at the July 10 meeting.
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