SPLOST referendum passes; plans underway for new school

Lincoln County voters approved a referendum to renew the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), which runs out on June 30, 2007, and provide for the issuance of up to $25,150,000 in general obligation bonds, supported by sales and property taxes, to build a new school.

It is estimated that the new SPLOST will generate between $6 and $7 million over a five-year period. As for property taxes, authorities are saying the new school may require an additional millage rate increase of from 0.50 to 1.5 mills to fund the new school.

The referendum passed by a margin of 570 votes to 250 during a Special Election held Tuesday, March 20.

Now what?

During the next six months, the Lincoln County Board of Education will:

.. Finalize the plans for the building. The board of education will be meeting with the architectural firm of Hughes/Beattie/O'Neal/Law & Associates PC to address issues such as the number of classrooms that will be housed in the school, the overall square footage of the project, and the layout of the school.

.. Submit the plans for approval by the Facilities Section of the Georgia Department of Education and the State Fire Marshal.

.. Issue the OK for Knox Wall to sell $3 to $4 million in bonds to cover the cost of clearing timber, grading, laying out the athletic fields, and other site preparation activities as well as the construction and paving of parking lots and two roads, one in front of the school and the other on the east side of the campus.

OneSource Development, LLC of Martinez will be in charge of the site prep.

"This way the contractor can go ahead and start construction and not have to wait on site prep once the building plans have been finalized," explained Dr. Randall Edmunds, Lincoln County superintendent of schools.

The school will be located on close to 56 acres of land southeast of the board office on Metasville Road.

.. Submit an application to the Georgia Department of Education for 7.5 million in state capital outlay funds. After the request has been endorsed by the department of education, it will be passed on to Governor Sonny Perdue and the General Assembly for inclusion in the state's FY 2009 Budget.

.. Continue to check on the progress of a request made previously by the board that the governor and the General Assembly help with the cost of paving a road that will pass by the school and connect Metasville Road with Highway 378.

The cost of the road is estimated at $700,000.

.. Work with the City of Lincolnton to tie the property into the existing water and sewer infrastructure on Metasville Road.

"We need to go ahead and decide how this will be done," noted the school superintendent, adding, "We have a lot of things that have to be decided before we finalize the plans."

Looking forward, Edmunds said, "Next year, after the plans have been finalized and we have received the state capital outlay money, Knox Wall will start selling bonds for the building itself. Depending on the final plans and how the bids come in, we may not have to issue bonds for the entire amount."

The cost of the new school cannot exceed $32,650,000.

In other comments, Superintendent Edmunds said, "The building will be large enough to accommodate the number of students in grades six through twelve. Still, the plan is to house grades nine through twelve in the facility once it is built."

As it tentatively stands, the new campus will feature:

.. Approximately 163,000 square feet.

.. A gymnasium and an auditorium that will be positioned so the public can have access to these facilities for after-hours activities while the rest of the school remains locked.

Concerning seating capacity, plans call for the gym to seat 1,500 and the auditorium close to 500.

.. A softball field, a baseball field, a track with a soccer field inside, four tennis courts, and a football practice field.

.. Thirty-six instructional units. Among these are two computer labs, two foreign language classrooms, a health occupations classroom, three science labs, and two extra classrooms.

.. Band, automotive, horticulture, and other classrooms that need exterior doors for loading and unloading as well as higher ceilings will be located in a row at the rear of the school.

In further remarks, Dr. Edmunds said, "If everything goes according to plan, we hope to be opening bids on the project itself about this time next year. The architects have estimated that the school will take about two years to build which will give us a 'move in' date of August of 2010."

The superintendent went on to say, "I'm happy the voters agreed to renew the SPLOST and approve the bonds in last week's election. I'm excited that we have the opportunity to build a new school in Lincoln County.

"It will represent a tremendous step forward for the school system and the county, helping us provide better opportunities for students to get a good education here."

The next regular meeting of the board of education will be held Tuesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at the board office.

At this time, the board will look at scheduling a series of meetings with the project's architectural firm to discuss the specifics of the new school.