WCMS parking lot half finished

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard

While part of the middle school parking lot has been repaved, potholes still remain in another section not scheduled for repairs this school year. (James Clark photo)

APAC workers are putting the finishing touches on the Warren County Middle School parking lot project — or at least half of it.

Because of funding issues, the school system was only able to upgrade half of the parking lot this year. It means potholes and crumbling asphalt are common on one side, while the other half will be in mint condition.

It’s a disparity which has some people wondering why the job was only done halfway. Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale says the answer is easy. It all comes down to money.

“We had an engineer submit a bid for the whole middle school campus and it came to about twice the price of what we could afford,” said Hale. “The whole parking lot needs to be done. We know that. But the bid was too high for us to do that right now.”

According to Hale, the bid for the entire WCMS campus was $800,000. The repaving work that is being completed in the parking lots surrounding Nunley Stadium is costing roughly $400,000.

The school system dipped into its fund balance, which is basically its savings account, to pay for the middle school paving. That fund balance is currently about $2.8 million.

The state requires school systems to maintain a fund balance that’s at least 3 percent of their operating budget, which for Warren County is about $1 million. Hale says the school system likes to keep at least $2 million in its fund balance, which is one month’s payroll.

“Something could happen with the state and we at least want to be able to meet our payroll,” said Hale. “People don’t realize we have the third largest payroll in the county.”

The school system has already transferred $1.5 million from its fund balance to pay for the parking lot paving, three new roofs, water treatment improvements at Dibrell, and other smaller projects.

Last year, the fund balance was used to pay for massive renovations to Nunley Stadium and the middle school auditorium totaling over $1.2 million.

To avoid a tax increase the Warren County Commission recently reduced school system funding by 2 cents on the levy, which amounts to nearly $100,000. The county’s Education Committee, chaired by Bill Zechman, recommended no decrease in funding but the full county commission disagreed.

“The school system is drawing on a finite resource for these projects,” said Zechman. “And that resource is not being replenished. It’s being reduced.”

Hale said hopefully the second half of the middle school parking lot can be repaved next summer.