Chesterfield County residents have the opportunity this week to voice their opinions on how the county’s school division spends its money in both the near and long term.
The School Board will hold two public hearings Tuesday night — one on a nearly $350 million 2014-18 capital improvement plan, and a second on a $533.9 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Advertisement
The proposed spending plan lacks the deep cuts of years past, but has a $3.8 million gap to be filled in order to provide employees a 2.14 percent raise.
School officials have also said the division lacks the funding to implement its $347.7 million five-year capital plan that calls for multimillion-dollar renovations at 10 schools and the construction of a new elementary school to relieve overcrowding at others in an effort to bring parity to school buildings across the county.
School Board Chairman David S. Wyman said the division’s capital program is important because of its ties to the county’s new comprehensive plan adopted last year.
“Over the last three years, there has been so much community discussion concerning revitalizing our older, more traditional neighborhoods,” Wyman said last week, noting the board’s joint effort with county leaders to identify those older schools in the communities targeted for revitalization.
County officials, on the other hand, have said that to implement this plan, a new revenue stream is needed.
“We have not hid from that fact,” county Budget Director Allan Carmody said last week.
When the plan was presented to the county’s Board of Supervisors last month, some members expressed concern about the debt the county will incur if it pursues the plan.
“We’re going to be asked the question throughout the budget process: How much debt are we carrying, and how will we be paying that down?” Clover Hill Supervisor A.S. “Art” Warren said during that meeting.
If the division’s proposed capital plan is ultimately approved, it will not immediately generate more than $300 million in new debt. County policy caps debt service at 10 percent of the operating budget — in recent years it has been below 8.5 percent — and the county continues to pay off its debt each year.
For the fiscal year that ends June 30, the county is projecting to lower its debt, which was around $603.4 million in 2009, to nearly $480 million. Additionally, officials expect that implementation of the capital plan would stretch beyond five years.
If so, Carmody said, it will be within the county’s debt limits, even below 8.5 percent.
School and county leaders are working together to examine the plan to determine the timing of the projects. Wyman noted that projects listed in the comprehensive plan extend beyond 2020, but the division incorporated many of them into the five-year window.
“I think we fully recognize that based upon the funding needs of the county … some of those are probably going to slip out,” said Wyman. “We’ve asked them to come back to us and say, ‘What is affordable? What is the need?’ ”
Dale District Supervisor James M. “Jim” Holland expressed concern with the capital plan, which is more than double the current $154.6 million. That increase is due to the comprehensive plan, which he stressed is not a spending plan.
He supports a referendum to determine community support for moving forward with the plan. A bond referendum would be considered a special election and must be ordered by the Circuit Court at least 81 days prior to the date of the election.
“I think the larger outlays ought to be on a referendum for the constituents to vote on,” Holland said. “At this point, I’m not feeling that we are ready to go forth fully … without the support of our community. I think the community needs to be involved in this.”
Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker said recently that all county spending ought to reflect the long-term priorities laid out in the comprehensive plan.
“If we don’t do that, there is practically no reason to spend four years and close to $1 million putting together that plan,” he said.
(804) 649-6861
