Building fund is source of contention during budget hearing
Trisha Benton
Randolph Times
RANDOLPH — The Randolph School Board met and passed its annual budget with the inclusion of additional money into a special building fund but at least one member is still undecided about the building project moving forward.
Board Member Cody Backer was the lone dissenting vote to levy an additional $500,000 into the school’s building fund to potentially replace and expand the Vocational Ag buildings and include space for the high school’s art program.
The Board has discussed previously the option of razing the two buildings and building one free-span steel building of 11,000 to 13,000 square feet, discussing the pros and cons of doing the construction all at once or in phases.
Built in the late 1960s, the two existing Ag buildings total 7,900 square feet and were not built to house the current equipment being used. Having two separate buildings is not ideal for safety and it limits the number of students in those courses.
Backer said he was torn on the decision but ultimately decided to vote no.
“We never want to go backwards. We always want to keep going forward,” he said after the meeting. “It’s not that I’m totally against it at all and it’s not that I’m totally for it. With everything going on right now and the way taxes are, I don’t know if this is the right time to do it. ... There’s no relief for any tax anywhere, it just gets more and more and more.”
Larry Janssen and Dan Backer provided public feedback at the budget hearing last week and also at the board’s budget workshop last month.
Janssen distributed real estate and personal property tax figures from wind turbines in Wayne County as well as the name plate tax which provides a “windfall” for the school district.
Because of those funds, taxpayers should get a break, he said.
Dan Backer agreed, saying “I’m surrounded by them (wind turbines) but I don’t get a dime.”
Janssen said the current Vocational Ag buildings are not ideal but functionally sound.
The school started ramping up its special building fund for potential construction when the board approved levying $500,000 into the special building fund last year. Cody Backer voted no at that time as well.
“I was kind of in the sense of we should get a game plan together before we actually levy for it and everybody else was, ‘We can always levy for it and then stop the budget next year.’ It works both ways,” he said.
Board Member Backer said that when construction discussion first started two years ago, estimates were around $700,000. Now, the price tag keeps going up with some estimates over $2 million which gives him cause for concern.
Board Vice President Jim Scott said his vote to include the special building fund levy was a choice in investing in the future of Randolph — much like the board did when they approved the initial financial backing for the Cardinal Learning Center preschool and daycare facility.
“I’m not looking at what classes are now. I’m looking at what classes might be 10 to 20 years down the road,” he said.
Scott said levying the extra money now is not a commitment to follow through with construction plans and the money could be used elsewhere if needed.
Ultimately the board passed the $6.3 million budget with the additional special building funds. Board Member Lisa Linville who attended the meeting by phone was not allowed to vote.
As part of the budget process, the board also set the tax request with a rate of nearly 52 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
