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Board of Education hears experts on new school costs, funding gap The Wilkes County Board of Education took another step last week toward the decision to build a new school complex, holding a construction workshop with representatives from engineering firm Southern A&E and bond company Merchants Capital to ascertain just how close they can get the gap between the school's cost and available funding. The next step will be a community town hall meeting May 15 to show the present school's condition and to get public opinion. "We want everybody to tell us how they feel about the new school," said Joyce Williams, Superintendent of Schools. After getting input from both the construction workshop and the public meeting, board of education members will make a decision at a meeting on May 23. "At that point, we'll decide whether to go ahead, or to abandon the whole idea," Williams said. The construction workshop last Wednesday night revealed the dimensions of the problem. After reviewing the timeline of the school construction process, Williams asked Meredith Camp of the bond company, Merchants Capital, to tell the board about alternate sources of funding. With the $17 million still available from the SPLOST-funded bonds, a deficit of $5 million remained to pay for the construction project. Camp recommended a lease agreement as the best option. Saying that it was a "tried and true method" used by other Georgia school systems facing shortfalls, Camp said that a local development authority or the Georgia School Board would fund part of the structure and lease it to the school system. The cost to fund the lease would add 1 to 1.5 mills to the tax burden of property owners, board members said. Steve McCune of Southern A&E reviewed a list of items in the construction process that would save money. Ranging from using lightduty paving in parking areas rather than heavy duty to deleting some options, the available cost-saving cuts trimmed some $500,000 off the bottom line. The next step in the process to decide if Wilkes County can afford a new high school and middle school comes at the town hall meeting at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School Tuesday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Walk-through tours will be available at 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. before the meeting so that members of the public can see close-up the condition of the present 50-year-old facility.
After getting input from both the construction workshop and the public meeting, board of education members will make a decision on the building project at a meeting on May 23.
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