Schools may seek $70 million in bonds

Rowan-Salisbury school officials will pitch plans for a bond referendum to Rowan County commissioners at an upcoming retreat in Southern Pines.

To cover the cost of as many as four new schools and renovations at several others, voters could be asked to let the county borrow $70 million, Clyde Miller, chairman of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education, said Monday night during the board’s team-building session.

That’s far less than the $115.5 million the school system has told state officials it needs for construction and renovations. But it’s well over the estimated cost of one new high school and three elementary schools.

School board members, county commissioners and the Salisbury City Council will all meet Feb. 9-11 at the Mid-Pines Resort in Southern Pines. County Commission Chairman Steve Blount said that the commissioners haven’t set any amount to the bonds.

“We’re going to wait to see what they propose then,” Blount told the Post in a telephone interview.

“I don’t think it’s safe to use a number,” County Manager Tim Russell said.

Rowan County residents are still paying off $44 million in bonds for public schools sold between 1993 and 1995, with $30 million still outstanding over the next 15 years, Russell said. And taxpayers across the state still owe back the record $1.8 billion North Carolina borrowed for schools in 1996.

But Rowan-Salisbury schools are close to capacity now and new schools — given bidding and construction schedules — could take three years to open.

While the school board bears the responsibility of deciding how to spend construction money, county commissioners have the role of scheduling the vote.

School board member Dr. Bettie Starr suggested a public hearing over the referendum. “People need to feel they’ve been heard,” she said.