Mecklenburg elementary school upgrades moved up

Revenue surge speeds Chase City, Clarksville, La Crosse projects


With a $3.4 million revenue surplus from the personal property tax, the Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors has agreed to move up the schedule for renovating aging elementary schools at Chase City, Clarksville and La Crosse.

Work could begin on upgrades to Clarksville Elementary School as early as 2024, with financing arranged in the spring of 2023. The scope of work for Clarksville Elementary and Chase City will include demolition of the oldest parts of the buildings from the 1940s, construction of new classrooms, cafeterias and administration areas and renovation of the remaining portions, including newer classrooms, libraries and gymnasiums.

Plans for La Crosse Elementary — the other outdated elementary among the county’s three oldest schools — have yet to be made. The Mecklenburg County School Board must decide whether to move La Crosse Elementary to a new location or upgrade the existing facility with plans similar to those being undertaken at Clarksville and Chase City.

A red-hot construction market over the past year has driven up the anticipated cost of upgrading the three schools. It is now expected to cost at least $40 million per school building.

At their monthly meeting on Monday, county supervisors discussed the options for renovating the buildings with Curtis Elswick of Skanska, the consulting firm that serves as contract managers for the Mecklenburg County consolidated secondary school construction project in Baskerville. Also taking part in the discussion were members of the School Board.

Financing options were discussed with R.T. Taylor of Davenport Public Finance, which is advising the Board of Supervisors.

Taylor said potential financing for the projects could be done through direct bank loans, a public bond sale through the Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) lending pool, or via other state and federal lending programs.

Borrowing $40 million through the VPSA pool will cost Mecklenburg County around $3 million in annual debt payments, according to Taylor. This is in addition to the nearly $8.5 million the county is already paying in debt service for the more than $119 million borrowed to cover the cost of building South Hill Elementary School and the new Mecklenburg County High School and Middle School complex.

The application to participate in the VPSA borrowing pool is due no later than the spring of 2023 to have money in hand to begin construction in 2024.

County Administrator Wayne Carter said supervisors initially determined that the county lacked sufficient funds to start upgrades to the elementary schools for at least five more years. But board members revised their plans after seeing a windfall from personal property tax collections this year, combined with better-than-expected revenues from other sources.

During their budget planning meeting in April, supervisors agreed to set aside the current personal property tax surplus of $3.4 million to cover debt payments on a $40 million bond for upgrades to one school, likely Clarksville Elementary. Despite the insistence by School Board Chair Gavin Honeycutt that Mecklenburg County raise taxes and renovate all three elementary schools simultaneously, Carter held firm, arguing “there is only enough capital to construct one building at a time and it is estimated to cost $3 million in debt service annually to build one school.”

Carter further informed Honeycutt and the other members of the School Board that supervisors were united in their opposition to raising taxes for school construction.

Honeycutt asked about plans to submit a referendum to the voters to increase the county sales tax by one cent. Mecklenburg County was given the authority to put the local option sales tax to a vote by the General Assembly in 2021. Carter replied, “My board sees this as a tax increase and are opposed.”

Supervisor David Brankley said the board is taking a conservative approach to borrowing in anticipation of several major upcoming expenditures the county is facing, including taking over at least two EMS squads and expansion of the county administration building.

Clarksville Elementary School was selected as the first facility to be upgraded at the request of School Operations Manager Brian Dalton. He said the Clarksville building would likely require the most extensive work.

Supervisors and trustees had already agreed that the school renovations would begin on the western end of the county to fulfill a promise made when work began on South Hill Elementary in 2003. At that time, school officials agreed that the next new school to be built after South Hill would be in either Chase City or Clarksville.

Elswick, representing Skanska, described the available options for renovations or new construction at the three elementary schools. He said the three most popular delivery methods are design-bid-build, construction management-at-risk, and the design-build PPEA (public-private partnership act) process.

He said the design-bid-build is the traditional method use to construct public buildings. Construction Manager-at-Risk is a delivery method which entails a commitment by a construction manager to oversee delivery of the project within a guaranteed maximum price, based on construction documents and specifications approved at the start of the contract.

The third option, design build PPEA, is a procurement tool that, according to Elswick, provides a consistent and predictable method of delivering important public projects by enabling public bodies to partner with private entities to encourage innovative approaches to financing construction and renovation.

He recommended that Mecklenburg County pursue the PPEA option for several reasons — because it provides the county the most flexibility to overcome foreseeable labor shortages, supply chain issues, scheduling and logistics issues and possible cost escalations.

Dalton pressed school board members to finalize their decision of whether to seek a new site for La Crosse Elementary School. That decision will impact facilities management plans moving forward.

If La Crosse will be getting a new school building at a new site, Dalton said there is no need for the school division to maintain Park View High School once students transition to the new campus in Baskerville in August. The building would be returned to the Board of Supervisors to sell or dispose as they see fit.

Mecklenburg County Public Schools will keep and maintain Bluestone High School so students from Clarksville Elementary and Chase City Elementary can be relocated there while construction takes place at their buildings.

School trustees are expected to approve the timeline for upgrades to the elementary schools at their next meeting in June. Supervisor Claudia Lundy has asked that they also finalize the decision of whether to relocate or renovate La Crosse Elementary School.

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