Schools

Harpers Ferry Junior High / Middle School

The New High School

The West Virginia School Building Authority has finally voted Jefferson county real money. The SBA approved Jefferson County's request for $19 million to help build a second high school, and to thoroughly renovate Jefferson High.

This has been along time coming. Many of us have worked very hard in recent years to get the SBA's approval of a large grant for Jefferson.

It's true that approval came at time when the SBA had at its disposal an unusually large amount of money. This was because it's original bond issue (authorized by the legislature when the SBA was created in 1989) had matured. This original bond money comes from the lottery, while the annual allotments given out by the SBA in subsequent years have come from general taxes.

Normally, the authority has about $50 million to parcel out in a given year. This year, it had a total of $180 million. Still, Jefferson, with about two and a half per cent of the state's population, got over ten per cent of the money given out.

This will be in addition to the $6 million approved for our second high school by the Economic Development Grant Committee. Out of 37 projects approved for funding by the Grant Committee, Jefferson's was the only school project approved.

It's true that we'll have to pass a bond issue of $19 million to get both of these grants. But, most grants from the School Building Authority are on a "one-to-two" match. The SBA customarily grants one dollar for every two voted by a county for bonding. We are getting a "one-to-one" match just for the SBA money. When you factor in the Grant Committee money, Charleston is actually giving us more money than they're asking us to vote for in bonding. I've not seen Jefferson County treated this well by Charleston bureaucracies in many years.

The Jefferson County School Board is to be commended for its foresight and persistence on this. And, as I mentioned earlier, many other people helped out, in many different ways.

I want to particularly thank Governor Bob Wise for his help. He noticed how shabbily Jefferson County had been treated by the SBA in the past. I personally explained to him the circumstances surrounding the defeat of our school bond at the special election held in September, 2000 (the only time in our county's history that a school bond has been defeated). The School Building Authority offered Jefferson County a whopping $4 million, if the county voted for a bond issue of $39 million. That proposal, essentially a "one-to-ten" match, was an insult. (I voted for it, anyway, but I'm now glad about the way things have turned out.) Governor Wise gave Jefferson County particularly strong support in our quest for fair treatment.

But we've now gone from being insulted to being given one of the best deals to build a new school that anybody's gotten in the 15 years the School Building Authority's been in existence. Let's take advantage of it by passing the school bond that will be on the ballot at the primary election on May 11, 2004.

There is a possibility that a referendum on impact fees will be on the ballot, at the same election. Let's not confuse the two.

Impact fees can only be used to build school facilities made necessary by growth that happens after those impact fees have been enacted. We need the second high school to handle growth that has already happened! So, we must pass this school bond — it's the only way to get the local match for the second high school.

Some folks are worried about the prospect of having both of these questions decided by the voters at the same election. I think it's a good idea.

First, it would provide the best environment for explaining to the voters the difference between the need for the bond and the need for impact fees. Second, it would increase the turnout, which would, I think, help pass both the bond and impact fees.

Yes, there is controversy about impact fees, relating to "affordable housing." Affordability of housing is, indeed, a serious problem in our county. It can, and must, be dealt with. But it cannot be dealt with in direct connection to impact fees. This should not deter us from approving the impact fees recently voted by the county commission. We need the impact fees to reduce the size of future bond issues.

Due to court decisions, impact fees may not be graduated according to the price of a new home. This is unfair to the buyers of new lower income housing. But, if we don't pass impact fees, we'll pay much more money in the future, because of the higher bonds that will be required.

Even the owners of that lower income new housing will pay more in the future, if impact fees are defeated. The debt service on the higher bonds will cause their taxes to go up, just as it will cause everybody else's taxes to rise. And, impact fees will only be applied to new housing, not existing housing. Higher bond issues affect everybody's taxes.