Major improvements for athletic facilities at all seven of the county's public high schools will move forward, including artificial turf for North Augusta's football stadium.
By a vote of five to four, the Aiken County School Board voted Tuesday in favor of a motion "that the projects and funding profile shown on the athletics facilities project and funding plan time line be approved and that language be included in the annual bond resolution to provide provisions for borrowing and repaying money from the fund balance to fund projects as required."
Board member Keith Liner made the motion. He and Board members Cecil Atchley, Tad Barber, Richard Hazen and Jeremy Mace voted for the motion. Rosemary English, Levi Green, Wesley Hightower and Ronnie West voted against it.
The project time line calls for the improvements to begin as soon as possible and to be completed by 2017. New projects would begin in 2017-18.
Artificial turf for North Augusta High's football stadium, at a cost of $750,000 would be completed this year and ready for the football season in the fall.
Three projects would be planned for fiscal year 2015-16; track and football stadium upgrades for Aiken High School at a cost of $750,000; track and lighting improvements for Silver Bluff High School at a cost of $400,000; and field upgrades at Ridge Spring-Monetta High School at a cost of $300,000. The total cost of those projects would be $1.45 million.
Projects for 2016-17 would be improvements to the restrooms and press box at Midland Valley High at a cost of $800,000, restrooms at South Aiken High at a cost of $500,000 and a practice field for Wagener-Salley High at a cost of $500,000. The total costs for the projects would be $1.8 million.
The estimated cost for all seven projects over the three years would be $4 million.
The money to pay for the projects would come from the Aiken County Public School District's bond premium, which it receives from the $17.5 million in bonds it issues for its Five-Year Facility Improvement Plan. The district receives the additional funds, which cannot be budgeted because they are nonrecurring and the amount changes from year to year, based on its high credit rating and low interest rates.
For the past four years, the bond premiums have been $1.5 million in 2014-15, $1.6 million in 2013-14, $1.6 million in 2012-13 and $830,336 in 2011-12.
Money from the $200,000 the district budgets for athletic facility fund in the Five-Year Facility Improvement Plan also will be used for the improvement projects. On July 1, $800,000 will be available; on July 1, 2016; $300,000 will be available; and on July 1, 2017, $200,000 will be available.
If necessary, the Board could borrow money from the school district's reserve fund to pay for the projects and repay it in 18 months, as required by law, with the bond premium.
Although the board approved the plan, several members expressed concerns. Green cited studies that say the material used in artificial turf can cause cancer, but David Caver, deputy superintendent, said other options are available and said materials cited in those studies would not be used.
He also said he had talked with three former professional football players who said schools and professional teams were moving away from artificial turf because of health concerns. Green asked that the board delay a vote until the federal government issues a study on whether the synthetic material is safe or not.
Liner, however, said that early in the process when the Board began looking at artificial turf, members received information from studies saying it is safe. "You're going to get information on both sides," he said.
Liner continued, saying that he is concerned about the safety of the student athletes who play on the football field at North Augusta.
"It needs some repair," he said. "I feel like we're going to spend tens of thousands, maybe a $100,000, to resurface the field to make sure it's playable for next season and then put turf on it next year. It just seems like we're throwing money away."
Finally, Liner said he was comfortable using the bond premiums to fund the projects.
"That funding source is pretty stable," he said. "We're going to look at it each year, so if we have to adjust some of the projects, I think that's well within our power."
An Aiken native, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter. He started at the Aiken Standard in September 2014.