Commissioners consider funding $14M in school improvements
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Supporters say the plan would fund a bevy of school improvement projects from renovations at Nunley Stadium and the middle school auditorium, to the construction of a new school at Centertown. The plan also calls for building a new alternative school, building a multiplex (formerly known as the multi-sport fieldhouse), and building a football stadium at the high school.
Hill presented the plan as commissioners with the Education Committee and Budget and Finance Committee met at Centertown School Thursday to hear a prioritized list of school system improvement requests, as asked for by the Warren County Commission last month.
Under the plan, which Hill said was suggested by Cumberland Securities, the county’s debt service company, the county commission would pay the principal on any 20-year bond floated, while the school board would be responsible for paying any and all interest.
Since only interest on the bond would be paid during the first 10 years of the bond, a tax increase could be avoided because the county would not have to begin paying on the bond’s principal until 2013, when a previous bond financing the construction of Warren County High School and Hickory Creek Elementary is paid in full.
If a bond in the amount of $14 million is floated and assuming, for budgetary purposes, a 5 percent interest rate, the school system would be responsible for approximately $10 million in interest over 20 years, while the county would pay only the principal of $14 million.
“This is a win-win situation,” said Hill. “The schools can get the money they want now and the county can pay back the principal when it can afford to, without an increase in revenue.”
The proposition seemed to get a warm reception from both school and county officials.
“It certainly sounds doable,” said Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale. “Of course we’ll have to study it to see what it entails, how it can be done and what our responsibilities will be, but it does sound good.”
Hale added any budget decisions made by school officials will have to meet with the approval of the state auditor before an agreement can be made with the county.
The joint venture plan even received positive words from Commissioner Wayne Pryor, who has developed a reputation of opposing nearly any expenditure not expressly required by law.
“It sounds reasonable and I’ll go along with it if it’s reasonable. And for me to say that is really something,” Pryor said.
A motion to present the plan to the full commission was passed unanimously by the Education Committee. The school board is set to discuss the proposal at its Sept. 25 meeting.
A tidy sum
If the county took out a $14 million bond at 5 percent interest over 20 years, the school system would pay $10 million in interest and the county would pay the $14 million principal.