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Published January 15th, 2009

WISE — It’s the worst of times and the best of times to consider building new high schools in Wise County, according to county officials meeting Thursday to discuss consolidation and finances.

Representatives of the Wise County Board of Supervisors and Wise County School Board entered into a frank discussion of the school division’s plan to close its existing six high schools and merge the student populations into three new facilities. The plan will take shape over the next several months, but School Superintendent Jeff Perry hopes to present it to supervisors for financing approval by June.

Supervisors Robert Adkins and Dana Kilgore represent their board on the committee, while school board Chairman Barry Nelson and former Chairman Ted Thompson take the lead for their board. Committee meetings are open, and Thursday’s inaugural session included Supervisors J.H. Rivers and Robbie Robbins and school board member Betty Cornett.

“This is the worst time to be talking about this because of the economy,” Kilgore said. “This is the worst time to do this, but we’ve got to go on.”

Adkins agreed and said supervisors are also keen to avoid the prospect of “upset and bitter taxpayers, and the first thing we have to do on this is not to raise taxes.”

“We do understand that,” said Perry, but he also pointed to a number of factors that may make the current economic situation favorable for new school construction.

Construction and engineering firms “are giving us very good rates” to get a shot at building the three new facilities, Perry said, and materials costs are advantageous as well. Architectural and engineering firms indicate a willingness to submit plans “at risk” or at least on a deferred basis.

Also, if President-elect Barack Obama’s infrastructure program becomes reality, such projects might be at the head of the federal finance list, he said.

Perry said operational savings of more than $3 million annually from merging six high schools into three new ones will be applied to annual debt service to pay for the project, which still awaits formal cost estimates but will probably be in the $100 million neighborhood because of site acquisition and preparation requirements.

Robbins asked if Perry could guarantee the $3 million savings figure, and Perry said the school division “feels like these numbers are actually pretty solid,” and possibly even a bit conservative.

Adkins said if the local coal industry remains robust, the county’s finances “will be fine,” particularly with a new coal-fired power plant currently being built at the eastern end of the county.

However, Adkins worried that a new presidential administration could mean dark days ahead for coal in general and coal-fired power plants in particular. The new Dominion facility in St. Paul is expected to pump between $4 million to $6 million in new tax revenues annually into the county.

“What if something happens to our golden cow in Virginia City?” Adkins asked. “There’s always that question in your mind — what if?”

Another unknown in the equation, said Adkins, is the city of Norton. The Norton School Board made overtures to the county this week and is at least flirting with the possibility of joining the county’s high school consolidation project. If Norton should opt to become a player, the city would share in the annual debt service of at least one of the new high schools.

Perry said he will meet with Norton Superintendent Lee Brannon next week to explore the city’s interest, “then try to get down to a point where I can tell my school board what this relationship would look like.”

Formal talks to that end between the two boards will be “a whole different thing” than the informal discussions Perry and Brannon will share, he said.

In any event, Perry said a decision by Norton to join in a consolidation effort must come fairly quickly because his “aggressive” schedule aims for a plan to be presented to supervisors in June.

Adkins and Kilgore wanted to know if the school division intends to build all three new high schools at the same time or stagger the construction projects. Perry said site selection will influence that decision a good deal, and both options are still in play for the time being.

“It would probably be cheaper to do them all at the same time,” Kilgore conceded. “But is it (financially) feasible to do that?”

Three new high schools will be an attractive economic development asset, officials said. Kilgore said the appearance of the current old high schools detracts from economic development efforts.

“This is not only an investment in the school system, but an investment in the local economy,” Thompson said.

Perry also asked supervisors to consider sharing some of the pre-construction costs, which are estimated to be around $200,000, including assessments at around $100,000 associated with the site selection process, and perhaps $115,000 to hire a design/build management group to oversee the entire project.

Participants also discussed potential state budget cuts. The school division knows it must pare about $165,000 this fiscal year, but it confronts a possible $3 million-plus cut for 2009-2010.

Perry and School Division Finance Director Ron Vicars asked supervisors to consider allowing categorical funding shifts to cover shortfalls, and to carry over state and local funds from the current year to next fiscal year.

Managing a $3 million shortfall beyond 2009-2010 could require consolidation even without new high schools, Perry said.

With a lingering state fiscal situation, Perry said 2010-2011 “becomes an extremely difficult year for us.”

“If the supervisors couldn’t backfill that money, we would have to look at every single aspect of this school division, and that would mean looking at every school we’ve got. The consolidation process would probably be sped up,” Perry said.