By Tim Cox/Editor
MILFORD – The Caroline County Board of Supervisors and the School Board are about $300,000 apart on funding the construction phase of the Bowling Green School Project.
The School Board sought $10.8 for the first phase of the project, which will renovate and expand Bowling Green Primary School and allow the consolidation of Bowling Green Elementary School. That amount includes $500,000 in architectural fees.
The Board of Supervisors, however, had agreed earlier to raise the amount the county would borrow from $9 million to $10.5 million.
At a joint meeting of the boards tonight, the supervisors held fast to that figure, voting 4-2 to authorize borrowing $10.5 million. Voting in favor of standing firm were chairman Wayne Acors, Reggie Underwood, Calvin Taylor, and Floyd Thomas. Supervisors Jeff Sili and Jeff Black voted against the measure.
School Board chairman Nancy Carson indicated afterward that the panel may convene another special meeting to consider the project further.
The vote followed a brief discussion in which Taylor twice reiterated the county’s dire financial straits. The supervisors are looking at possible cuts in the current budget and also in the next budget that is being prepared now, he indicated.
“I had agreed to support $10.5 million,” Acors said at the outset of the discussion.
“Ten point five million was the number, not $10.5 million plus,” he added.
Taylor agreed and briefly referred to the budget dilemma the supervisors face. “The money is just not there,” he said.
Sili noted the supervisors have two budget cycles to address funding for the project, the current budget and the next one. The figure of $10.3 million to build the school was under the $10.5 target set by the supervisors, he noted, excluding the architectural fees.
Acors was adamant. “No,” he said. “There was no misunderstanding.”
“This is the cheapest we can get this building down to,” said Sili.
“And I’m not saying it’s not,” Acors replied.
Acors suggested the School Board would have to shift part of the project to phase two or make additional cuts. He suggested eliminating terrazzo floors.
Carson said the School Board was in favor of terrazzo because of the poor experience with tile flooring at Lewis and Clark Elementary School. “It is absolutely horrible,” she said, and had to be repaired within two months of the school’s opening.
“What you’re asking to cut is a building that is not student-ready,” said Superintendent Greg Killough. “You would have a shell of a building and not a functional building.”
“They need a good school,” interjected Supervisor Jeff Black.
“If we need $10.8 million, kick in the $10.8 million and get it over with,” added Black, who noted the project has been debated for some months.
Taylor suggested it would be impossible to borrow more money for the project without raising taxes. “Are we willing to increase taxes?” he asked. “We don’t have it.”
After the vote, Acors suggested the School Board “get on with what’s available.”
The supervisors also have agreed to allow the School Board to allocate any savings from this year’s budget to the building project.
The second phase of the project includes a list of 12 items, totaling $792,000, essentially to finish and equip the school. The items range from $344,000 for paving to $5,000 to motorize the stage curtain. Other relatively big-ticket items include $212,000 for additional food services equipment, $71,000 for data technology equipment, $50,000 for library furniture, $21,000 for the gym flooring, and $20,000 for landscaping. No funds have been specifically allocated to pay for phase two.
By breaking out the equipment and furnishings into a second phase, officials hope to avoid paying higher wage rates mandated under the federal Davis-Bacon Act. The project involves $6 million in federal funding and for that reason falls under the Davis-Bacon Act.
A week earlier, the School Board endorsed a plan that had been agreed to by a delegation of two members of each board – Carson, fellow School Board member Mack Wright Jr., Sili and Thomas – during a meeting with the low bidder for the project, Ashland-based A.D. Whittaker Construction Inc.
During the meeting of the delegation, held the previous week, Whittaker proposed about $1.1 million worth of cuts and reductions in the project. The group reviewed those, restored some items, and trimmed the project in other ways.
A.D. Whittaker’s original bid was $12 million; with the $500 million in architectural fees, the project would have cost $12.5 million.
However, since the supervisors earlier had approved only $9 million in financing, the project has been debated in meetings of both boards in recent months, including several joint meetings. The School Board initially trimmed the project by nearly $1 million, but the supervisors at first were unwilling to finance any more than $9 million.
In a joint meeting with the School Board earlier this month, the supervisors signaled their willingness to increase financing to $10.5 million. The supervisors also wanted to explore the feasibility of structuring the project in phases in order to avoid some of the costs of the Davis-Bacon Act, which makes up about 10 percent of the cost of phase one.
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