BY PORTSIA SMITH
The Caroline County Board of Supervisors voted 4–2 Wednesday to add $1.5 million to the Bowling Green Primary School renovation, bringing the total funds available for the project to $10. 5 million.
But that’s still $300,000 short of the $10.8 million needed to complete the two-phase project.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Wayne Acors told members of the School Board during a joint work session Tuesday night, “$10.5 million is the number and that’s what I’m willing to support. The other $300,000 that is needed to complete the project has to come from some other means.”
Acors suggested the School Board use whatever remaining funds it has left in its budget at the end of the fiscal year.
Supervisors Jeff Black and Jeff Sili voted against the $10.5 million.
“I just want to see [the students] have a good school,” Black said. “If we have to kick in the $10.8 [million] then we kick in the $10.8 [million] and get it over with.”
But Supervisor Calvin Taylor asked where the money will come from.
“I’m an educator and I want this school, but we have to figure out how to pay for it,” he said.
Supervisor Reggie Underwood said he wants the school, too, but would not vote for a tax increase, and suggested both boards start to really tighten their belts when it comes to spending.
That angered parents, who spoke in favor of complete funding for the project.
“To see an extra penny [on my tax bill] will not keep me up at night,” said Bowling Green parent Linnea Woolridge. “By not spending an extra $300.000, you’re cheating our children over a penny.”
Emotions ran so high for one mother that she had to be escorted out of the building by a sheriff’s deputy for yelling at board members and threatening to have them voted out.
“The children of this county deserve a whole lot more than what you’re doing,” Lynda Keath managed to say before being told to leave.
The School Board had $9 million for the project, but the lowest bid came in at $12 million—with an additional $500,000 needed to pay for consulting fees.
The supervisors borrowed $3 million last year—adding about 2 cents to the real-estate tax rate for the next 20 years—to contribute to the renovation.
The other $6 million is federal funds in the form of low-interest bonds from the Virginia Department of Education as part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The federal stimulus provides funding for consolidating school projects, facilities more than 35 years old and projects in economically stressed areas.
The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2013.
Portsia Smith: 540/374-5419
psmith@fredericksburg.com
In other news, the board:
Voted unanimously to reduce spending by 5 percent in the General, Utility and Dawn Wastewater funds.
Voted 4–2 to assess vehicles at 65 percent of their National Automobile Dealers Association values, rather than 50 percent, in calculating personal-property taxes. This is expected to generate an extra $984,873 in revenue and would help balance the 2012–13 budget.
