Hopewell looks at funding options for high school renovation

HOPEWELL -- A proposed $26.6 million renovation project for Hopewell High School has city officials puzzled over how to finance it.

The City Council and the School Board will meet today to discuss the project, which school officials hope will begin this summer and could be completed in about three years.

Today's discussion, however, includes a proposal by city officials to complete the work in phases over as much as five years, to give the city time to come up with the funding.

"Council wants very much to support the school, but this is a very difficult time financially," City Manager Edwin C. Daley said. "So the question becomes how much they can do immediately and how much they can do in a couple of years."

The council is expected to approve issuing $5 million in bonds next month for the project. Daley said that money could be used to start on the most immediate needs, which could be decided at the joint meeting.

The city, however, doesn't have any other reserves to pay for the project, which will renovate plumbing, ventilation and electrical systems.

The project also includes major upgrades to the school auditorium, an addition to the gym for locker rooms and a weight room, and a new maintenance building.

Superintendent Winston O. Odom said the renovations are urgent and the building must be repaired.

The high school opened for the 1967-68 school year at 400 S. Mesa Drive.

The electrical system is so outdated that the school is limited on the number of computers it can operate at once, Odom said.

At a recent School Board meeting, project architects warned that delaying the renovation further would cost the city even more.

Council members have questioned the renovation cost, which they said rose from $17 million last fall to $20 million in January and now $26.5 million.

"It is scary when you talk about $26 million," Councilman Kenneth B. Emerson said. "When [the administration] tell us how we can finance this, I am a hundred percent for it."

Odom denied there was any figure other than $26.6 million, which he said was set at the beginning of this year. The council may have discussed committing $17 million to the project last fall, he said.

He said the cost could end up lower because the economic climate permits more competition in the construction industry.

"Our kids are entitled to a facility similar to the one their peers have in neighboring jurisdictions. They don't deserve an inferior building," Odom said.

Last week, the council discussed increasing the real estate tax rate by 6 cents to $1.01 per $100 of assessed value to pay for the school project.

After six failed motions, the rate was set by default at 96 cents per $100 of assessed value, the maximum allowed by law without a hearing, which is 1 cent above the tax rate for the current fiscal year. The council may decide in the next few weeks whether to designate the extra cent to the school project.

The current tax rate is $1.09, but recent reassessments made that the equivalent of 95 cents.

Janice Denton of Hopewell Citizens for Good Government said the council was irresponsible in not passing a higher tax rate last week to start saving for the school project.

"Nobody wants their taxes raised, but if you live in the city and you take pride in your city, we all have to make sacrifices. To leave it at 96 is not giving us any reserves. We are not going to be prepared," she said.

Phasing in the project would give the council time to find revenue, either by raising the tax rate 3 cents in the next few years or finding other sources of revenue, city officials said.

But Odom said stretching out the project is not practical.

To have students in trailers for five years during construction would be disruptive, he said.

"It is tough enough to maintain a healthy learning environment in a normal situation. When you have a construction environment, it is even more difficult," he said, noting that safety concerns would increase when construction workers would be on site.

Hopewell's schools are on a list to receive about $7.5 million from the state, and that money would be used for the project, Odom said. But he said that with recent state cuts, the funding is not guaranteed.

Hopewell also expects to receive $1.6 million in federal stimulus money, but that will be used to maintain school programs and prevent layoffs, the superintendent said.

"Everybody has to understand that this is probably the worst recession in a lifetime," Councilman K. Wayne Walton said at a recent meeting. "I think we can put some things off."

Said Daley: "The concern is that we know how we are going to pay for the project before we approve it."

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .