By ROB NOVIT
Aiken County Board of Education members haven't decided if they want to have a sales tax referendum for facilities as part of the November general election - and, as of yet, still don't know if they will have the authority to do so.
In the meantime, they heard at a special meeting Tuesday some options about alternative ways to manage such a referendum and the construction process.
The S.C. General Assembly has yet to act on a Senate budget proviso that allow any School Board to authorize a capital projects sales tax referendum in the current calendar year. Currently, only Horry and Charleston counties have that authority and have held successful referendums in recent years.
On the recommendation of board member Richard Hazen, representatives of the M.B. Kahn and GMK construction firms attended the meeting and talked about potential services that such companies can provide to help with the referendum planning and construction management scenarios.
School Board members also asked the district administration to contact the Aiken County Legislative Delegation members about a possible meeting as soon as possible. If the Senate proviso doesn't get approved, the only alternative for the School Board to have any possibly of a November referendum would be local legislation specifying Aiken County.
Hazen acknowledged that's a long shot; the county's delegation chairman, S.C. Rep. Roland Smith, worked with Gov. Nikki Haley last year in changing an Aiken County-directed bill to statewide legislation, effectively ending bills aimed at single counties.
Still, Hazen is anxious to at least give the School Board the chance to consider a sales tax referendum to be held in November.
Voters soundly rejected a $236 million construction bond referendum in 2010 that would have used property tax increases to pay off debt. A sales tax referendum would add one cent to the existing sales tax for up to 15 years, raising about $18 million to $20 million annually for construction projects and general maintenance.
Coming off the failed 2010 referendum, "There's a risk in doing another one quickly," Hazen said. "But there's also increased facility costs in doing it more slowly. It's about what's right, and the board will make that decision."
Board member Levi Green reiterated statements last week that, "I still think the sales tax referendum is not going to happen this year. I think it will be 2014 before we can look at doing that," Green said.
If the Senate proviso doesn't pass, the Aiken School Board couldn't authorize a referendum until November 2014 - and that's only if the General Assembly makes the proviso permanent in the 2013 or 2014 legislative sessions.
School Board members have acknowledged they didn't have a good plan in place to communicate with and educate Aiken County residents about the 2010 referendum. They met with the construction firm executives to discuss how to rectify that.
One of the newer concepts, said Kahn company executive Rick Ott, is design-build - in which a single firm would handle facility design, construction management and actual construction.
That approach has already saved millions of dollars for major facility initiatives in other districts, Ott said. Board members have said many voters would be more assured if they knew that a private entity would coordinate much of the construction process.
The Kahn firm and others could also initiate community meetings to gauge interest and support for such a referendum.
The downside of the design-build concept is that it, too, is not technically legal in South Carolina for school construction. However, the State Department of Education reportedly has been granting waivers for other school districts to use that process.
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.![]()
Aiken County Board of Education members haven't decided if they want to have a sales tax referendum for facilities as part of the November general election - and, as of yet, still don't know if they will have the authority to do so.
In the meantime, they heard at a special meeting Tuesday some options about alternative ways to manage such a referendum and the construction process.
The S.C. General Assembly has yet to act on a Senate budget proviso that allow any School Board to authorize a capital projects sales tax referendum in the current calendar year. Currently, only Horry and Charleston counties have that authority and have held successful referendums in recent years.
On the recommendation of board member Richard Hazen, representatives of the M.B. Kahn and GMK construction firms attended the meeting and talked about potential services that such companies can provide to help with the referendum planning and construction management scenarios.
School Board members also asked the district administration to contact the Aiken County Legislative Delegation members about a possible meeting as soon as possible. If the Senate proviso doesn't get approved, the only alternative for the School Board to have any possibly of a November referendum would be local legislation specifying Aiken County.
Hazen acknowledged that's a long shot; the county's delegation chairman, S.C. Rep. Roland Smith, worked with Gov. Nikki Haley last year in changing an Aiken County-directed bill to statewide legislation, effectively ending bills aimed at single counties.
Still, Hazen is anxious to at least give the School Board the chance to consider a sales tax referendum to be held in November.
Voters soundly rejected a $236 million construction bond referendum in 2010 that would have used property tax increases to pay off debt. A sales tax referendum would add one cent to the existing sales tax for up to 15 years, raising about $18 million to $20 million annually for construction projects and general maintenance.
Coming off the failed 2010 referendum, "There's a risk in doing another one quickly," Hazen said. "But there's also increased facility costs in doing it more slowly. It's about what's right, and the board will make that decision."
Board member Levi Green reiterated statements last week that, "I still think the sales tax referendum is not going to happen this year. I think it will be 2014 before we can look at doing that," Green said.
If the Senate proviso doesn't pass, the Aiken School Board couldn't authorize a referendum until November 2014 - and that's only if the General Assembly makes the proviso permanent in the 2013 or 2014 legislative sessions.
School Board members have acknowledged they didn't have a good plan in place to communicate with and educate Aiken County residents about the 2010 referendum. They met with the construction firm executives to discuss how to rectify that.
One of the newer concepts, said Kahn company executive Rick Ott, is design-build - in which a single firm would handle facility design, construction management and actual construction.
That approach has already saved millions of dollars for major facility initiatives in other districts, Ott said. Board members have said many voters would be more assured if they knew that a private entity would coordinate much of the construction process.
The Kahn firm and others could also initiate community meetings to gauge interest and support for such a referendum.
The downside of the design-build concept is that it, too, is not technically legal in South Carolina for school construction. However, the State Department of Education reportedly has been granting waivers for other school districts to use that process.
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.