Bradley County Commissioner Mel GriffithCLEVELAND, Tenn. - Bradley County school growth has not been as dramatic as some people are saying, a county commissioner said Wednesday.
Mel Griffith also is a member of the commission's Finance Committee that met Wednesday.
Commissioner Jeff Morelock had asked for a projection on how a requested $38 million bond issue would affect the county budget, including its reserve fund.
"I guess my point is, if we do this, it's going to require a tax increase," Morelock told committee members.
Griffith said schools officials "keep talking about all this great growth that we've got to do something about. They haven't had significant growth in four or five years. ... We need to plan for growth and know what we are going to do when it happens. But we need to wait until it happens before we start raising taxes or borrowing money."
Contacted later, county school board Chairman Troy Weathers said that "if we had listened to Mr. Griffith, we would not have had Walker Valley High School or Waterville [Community Elementary School] today. We have been flat the past two years, but we have proven the need."
If Lake Forest Middle School needs an academic building, Walker Valley High School is crowded and Blue Springs Elementary needs to be replaced after the April tornadoes, Morelock said, what is the solution to the problem?
"I'm just asking questions," he said.
"It would be nice if we could build the new building at Lake Forest," said Griffith, a former school board member, "but they have been getting by for 30-some-odd years, and they can live another few years until we get the tax base increased and can pay for it."
"With these overcrowded situations, I know they don't like portables, but if you need another classroom that's what you do. ... You don't go building another building until you have enough students to justify building another school," Griffith said.
Weathers, in a later telephone interview, said, "Telling our kids at Lake Forest they can just get by is just wrong. It's not fair to that side of the county, and he [Griffith] lives there."
Griffith said the school board has insurance money to repair Blue Springs.
"It does have some problems," Griffith said of the old building. "But that doesn't mean it wasn't usable."
Elkins said he understood from the school board the building was irreparable.
"I guess I'm disturbed that we didn't have all the facts in earlier discussions," he said.
Weathers said Blue Springs had been condemned after the storms.
"If we had had children there on that day, there would have been casualties," he said. "Our board believes cost doesn't matter when it comes to children's safety."
Committee members will meet Tuesday with a local accountant to discuss the possibility of studying long-range budget impacts from the school plan, should it be approved, among other pending issues, such as buying industrial park property.