Anonymous
10-04-2004, 04:23 PM
The most interesting part of the N&O article below is the last two paragraphs. Herb Council, former chair and highly influential member of the WCC announces his support for a property tax increase to pay for new school capacity. Herb Council is far too experienced to say this without checking with the Republican majority that controls the Board of County Commissioners. You can bet that Chairman Kenn Gardner supports the idea as does Tony Gurley, Cary's representative.
Three disquieting things about Council's statement:
1. he says nothing about reviewing other county expenditures such as rennovating the county's offices or building new regional government centers.
2. Councl calls for a further reduction on expenditures for rennovations for existing schools. Such expenditures were already reduced when the County Commissioners cut the school boards request from $867M to $450M for over the next four years. Maintenance and rennovation budgets are already below 50% of the level common in industry for comparable buildings. The system has roughly 50 schools that are more than 50 years old. Do we want to have two classes of schools? One in the rapidly expanding areas of N. Raleigh and Western Wake with modern facilities and another mostly in central Raleigh with leaking roofs, worn-out carpeting and aging air conditioning systems. It may be inadvertant on Council's part - but isn't this part of the problem that brought the civil rights act into being.
3. And why not a single word about school impact fees or property transfer taxes for schools that are found in nine other counties across the state.
Herb Council's concession on taxes is better than do nothing at all - but it is not facing up to the full dimensions of the problem brought about by the County Commissioners themselves.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Published: Oct 4, 2004
Modified: Oct 4, 2004 5:57 AM
Targets for Wake bond funds may shift
In Wake, mobile classrooms could take the place of promised construction
By T. KEUNG HUI, Staff Writer
What Wake County voters were promised in last year's $450 million school bond issue may not be what they'll get.
Nearly $70 million that was approved for new schools and renovations soon could be spent elsewhere to deal with expected overcrowding and to cover construction overruns.
It's a bitter choice for school officials because it means going back, for now, on what voters were promised. The school system also is hoping that residents will be willing to support another bond issue sooner than anticipated.
"Obviously, we have to provide a plan for where students can go to school, and the only source of funding available is the capital fund," said Don Haydon, associate Wake superintendent for auxiliary services.
Haydon will ask the school board Tuesday to approve the concept of buying more mobile classrooms and building modular schools. Pending board members' approval, Haydon will ask them Oct. 19 to fund the purchases by reallocating money from the bond issue.
Truman Newberry, vice president of the Wake County Taxpayers Association, which opposed last year's school bond issue, said it's not right to change what voters approved.
"Bond issues are so controversial, I'd be reluctant to support shifting funds from what people voted on," Newberry said. "The public made a decision to support where that money was supposed to go."
School officials say they find themselves in this situation because of faster-than-anticipated growth, state-mandated class-size reductions and spiraling construction costs.
Wake has seen a net growth of 9,719 students in the past two years, with another 4,639 students projected to come next year. Administrators say Wake could be short seats for 5,898 students next year.
After the school board decided this week to reject converting any schools to a year-round calendar, it left on the table a $34.4 million plan to buy mobile classrooms and to build modular schools.
Another option is to get a waiver from the state's third-grade class-size reductions, but school officials concede they're not likely to get any response to their request before this month's deadline to make a decision for next year.
Additionally, administrators say they need $31 million to deal with cost overruns in the current building program and to get the next bond issue started.
The result is a $65.4 million price tag that Wake is trying to cover.
If money is diverted from last year's bond issue, gone would be funds for two new elementary schools, the new Wendell Middle School and renovations at East Wake High School.
The school district also would want county commissioners to push up the next bond issue, now scheduled for November 2007, a year.
If that is successful and the bonds are approved, the elementary schools could still be built on time. But East Wake High's work would be delayed 18 months, and Wendell Middle would be delayed two years.
"It cuts [eastern Wake] out of the bond issue," said school board member Kathryn Watson Quigg, who represents the area. "It is very, very unfair."
Linda Johnson, executive director of the East Wake Education Foundation, complained that people had worked so hard for the bond issue because of the projects.
"It will make passing the next bond issue that much harder," Johnson said.
School board member Amy White isn't thrilled about delaying an elementary school that would be near Southeast Raleigh and her constituents in Garner. There's no guarantee, she said, that voters will approve the next bond issue.
"If we go into a bond issue expecting it to pass, we've already lost," White said. "We can't afford to be complacent."
Although these choices aren't pleasant, school board chairwoman Susan Parry said they may have to be taken.
"Clearly something has to be delayed, because it appears at this point we just don't have the funds," she said.
Quigg said the district would not be in such a predicament if commissioners gave more money.
She pointed out that the school system had asked for an $867 million construction program last year, only to see commissioners reduce the amount to a $450 million bond issue because they did not want to raise property taxes.
"I would hope that the county commissioners stand up and show leadership," Quigg said.
Commissioner Herb Council said he'd be willing to support a bond issue that's earlier than 2007 and large enough that it might raise taxes. But he'd want the school district to spend more money on new schools than on renovations.
"If we change the means of funding so the implications are it could raise taxes, we need to explain that," Council said. "If voters are willing to support this, I'm not going to stand in the way."Staff writer T. Keung Hui can be reached at 829-4534 or khui@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2004, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
Three disquieting things about Council's statement:
1. he says nothing about reviewing other county expenditures such as rennovating the county's offices or building new regional government centers.
2. Councl calls for a further reduction on expenditures for rennovations for existing schools. Such expenditures were already reduced when the County Commissioners cut the school boards request from $867M to $450M for over the next four years. Maintenance and rennovation budgets are already below 50% of the level common in industry for comparable buildings. The system has roughly 50 schools that are more than 50 years old. Do we want to have two classes of schools? One in the rapidly expanding areas of N. Raleigh and Western Wake with modern facilities and another mostly in central Raleigh with leaking roofs, worn-out carpeting and aging air conditioning systems. It may be inadvertant on Council's part - but isn't this part of the problem that brought the civil rights act into being.
3. And why not a single word about school impact fees or property transfer taxes for schools that are found in nine other counties across the state.
Herb Council's concession on taxes is better than do nothing at all - but it is not facing up to the full dimensions of the problem brought about by the County Commissioners themselves.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Published: Oct 4, 2004
Modified: Oct 4, 2004 5:57 AM
Targets for Wake bond funds may shift
In Wake, mobile classrooms could take the place of promised construction
By T. KEUNG HUI, Staff Writer
What Wake County voters were promised in last year's $450 million school bond issue may not be what they'll get.
Nearly $70 million that was approved for new schools and renovations soon could be spent elsewhere to deal with expected overcrowding and to cover construction overruns.
It's a bitter choice for school officials because it means going back, for now, on what voters were promised. The school system also is hoping that residents will be willing to support another bond issue sooner than anticipated.
"Obviously, we have to provide a plan for where students can go to school, and the only source of funding available is the capital fund," said Don Haydon, associate Wake superintendent for auxiliary services.
Haydon will ask the school board Tuesday to approve the concept of buying more mobile classrooms and building modular schools. Pending board members' approval, Haydon will ask them Oct. 19 to fund the purchases by reallocating money from the bond issue.
Truman Newberry, vice president of the Wake County Taxpayers Association, which opposed last year's school bond issue, said it's not right to change what voters approved.
"Bond issues are so controversial, I'd be reluctant to support shifting funds from what people voted on," Newberry said. "The public made a decision to support where that money was supposed to go."
School officials say they find themselves in this situation because of faster-than-anticipated growth, state-mandated class-size reductions and spiraling construction costs.
Wake has seen a net growth of 9,719 students in the past two years, with another 4,639 students projected to come next year. Administrators say Wake could be short seats for 5,898 students next year.
After the school board decided this week to reject converting any schools to a year-round calendar, it left on the table a $34.4 million plan to buy mobile classrooms and to build modular schools.
Another option is to get a waiver from the state's third-grade class-size reductions, but school officials concede they're not likely to get any response to their request before this month's deadline to make a decision for next year.
Additionally, administrators say they need $31 million to deal with cost overruns in the current building program and to get the next bond issue started.
The result is a $65.4 million price tag that Wake is trying to cover.
If money is diverted from last year's bond issue, gone would be funds for two new elementary schools, the new Wendell Middle School and renovations at East Wake High School.
The school district also would want county commissioners to push up the next bond issue, now scheduled for November 2007, a year.
If that is successful and the bonds are approved, the elementary schools could still be built on time. But East Wake High's work would be delayed 18 months, and Wendell Middle would be delayed two years.
"It cuts [eastern Wake] out of the bond issue," said school board member Kathryn Watson Quigg, who represents the area. "It is very, very unfair."
Linda Johnson, executive director of the East Wake Education Foundation, complained that people had worked so hard for the bond issue because of the projects.
"It will make passing the next bond issue that much harder," Johnson said.
School board member Amy White isn't thrilled about delaying an elementary school that would be near Southeast Raleigh and her constituents in Garner. There's no guarantee, she said, that voters will approve the next bond issue.
"If we go into a bond issue expecting it to pass, we've already lost," White said. "We can't afford to be complacent."
Although these choices aren't pleasant, school board chairwoman Susan Parry said they may have to be taken.
"Clearly something has to be delayed, because it appears at this point we just don't have the funds," she said.
Quigg said the district would not be in such a predicament if commissioners gave more money.
She pointed out that the school system had asked for an $867 million construction program last year, only to see commissioners reduce the amount to a $450 million bond issue because they did not want to raise property taxes.
"I would hope that the county commissioners stand up and show leadership," Quigg said.
Commissioner Herb Council said he'd be willing to support a bond issue that's earlier than 2007 and large enough that it might raise taxes. But he'd want the school district to spend more money on new schools than on renovations.
"If we change the means of funding so the implications are it could raise taxes, we need to explain that," Council said. "If voters are willing to support this, I'm not going to stand in the way."Staff writer T. Keung Hui can be reached at 829-4534 or khui@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2004, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company