Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 22, 1990 TAG: 9005220424
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
What they can't agree on is how to pay for them.
Monday night the board held its second meeting to decide what should be included in a November bond referendum. Also on the table was a library for Blacksburg, $1 million to purchase land for economic development, a health and human services building and several other projects.
In the three-hour discussion that followed, the board shuffled some numbers but did little actual cutting.
Two factors that complicated the discussions were the absence of Supervisor Joe Stewart - board members were reluctant to make such important decisions without hearing from him - and the news that the amount needed to finance the library had nearly doubled.
The library's cost has grown from $700,000 to $1,359,222 - 94 percent - because of increases in projected construction, staffing and other costs, County Administrator Betty Thomas said.
The board deferred a decision on what to include in the referendum until its next meeting, May 29.
In the meantime, Supervisor Henry Jablonski asked Finance Director Jeff Lunsford to calculate the effects of three different scenarios on the county's indebtedness:
A $16.1 million bond referendum that includes both schools and the other projects still under consideration.
An $11.1 million referendum that includes only a school for Christiansburg.
A $6.4 million referendum that does not include either school.
If the schools are not included, another financing source would be used, such as the state Literary Fund loans or bonds from the Virginia Public School Authority.
The Literary Fund offers the most attractive interest rate - 3 percent - but because the state has been dipping into the fund for other projects, it is not certain the county could obtain the money, Thomas said. The authority could lend Montgomery County the money at roughly the same cost as voter-approved bonds, county officials said.
The funding method is important because the supervisors are looking for the best way to make the referendum as attractive as possible to voters in all parts of the county. Some have suggested the referendum won't pass unless both schools are included; others believe voters will reject one that is too expensive.
Here is a list of the $6.4 million in projects still being discussed:
A new Health Department building, $1.5 million; purchase of land for future industrial sites, $1 million; purchase of land for future parks on the New and Little rivers, $600,000; extension of a sewer line in the Belview Elementary School area, $728,000.
Also, the Blacksburg library, $1.36 million; renovations at Christiansburg Middle School, $350,000; a contribution toward a swimming pool in Blacksburg, $600,000; and a fire and rescue substation for Shawsville, $211,000.
For now, the supervisors are studying alternative funding methods for other needed projects, such as additional classrooms for Shawsville and Elliston-Lafayette elementary schools.
The supervisors' original list of special projects totaled about $33 million. They cut it in half at a meeting last week.
by CNB