
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300374
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

TWO REAPPOINTED TO SCHOOL BOARD

Montgomery County supervisors reappointed Donald Lacy and Robert Goncz to new four-year terms on the School Board on Tuesday night, but the board again was unable to decide on what to include in a November bond referendum.

After only a few seconds of discussion, the board voted 5-1 to reappoint Lacy and Goncz. Supervisor Ira Long cast the negative vote; Supervisor Joe Stewart abstained.

The bond referendum discussion took much longer. Board members wrestled for hours with a $16 million list of special projects that includes elementary schools for Blacksburg and Christiansburg and several other projects.

After hearing - and heeding - a plea from Welfare Board Chairman Mary Tom Long to reinstate building space for social services agencies, the board foundered on the question of whether to include the schools in the bond referendum.

Some supervisors argued state Literary Fund financing would be cheaper - an interest rate of about 3 percent compared to the 7.5 percent the county would pay to borrow the money.

But others said it was not certain the money would be there, or that voters would reject a referendum that did not include the schools, or that including one but not the other would alienate voters and doom the referendum.

At one point, it appeared the board would approve a $6.7 million plan that did not include the schools. Supervisors Todd Solberg, James Moore, George Gray and Stewart supported that idea. But then board Chairwoman Ann Hess restated the question, the board took another vote - and Stewart changed his mind.

The board will try again tonight.

by CNB