With Hamilton County Schools facing $1 billion in deferred maintenance, Hamilton County Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, introduced a resolution Wednesday that would create a dedicated fund for the county school system’s capital needs.
The capital needs building fund would act as a savings account to help the county get ahead of its facilities crisis, he said. County officials would be able to dedicate surplus money to that fund, such as revenue from selling a piece of property or from the federal government.
“The can has got to stop,” he told commissioners. “We can’t keep kicking the can down the road, and we don’t have a magic wand with enough money to fix all the needs right now. If we put this savings account in place, this gives us a place to put excess monies and build ways to get ahead of the curve.”
A related resolution would direct 100% of future revenue for education from payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) and tax increment financing (TIF) agreements into the proposed fund. The County Commission is expected to vote on both items during its regular meeting next week.
Officials use PILOT agreements to lure businesses or help them expand by offering a temporary reduction in taxes over a set time frame. TIFs can help developers offset project costs in largely blighted areas by redirecting future property tax revenue to pay for infrastructure.
Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson said reserving 100% of PILOT funds for the proposed savings account would remove money the school district currently receives that goes toward the day-to-day cost of running the school system. That would have a big effect on kids across Hamilton County.
“When businesses come in and growth comes in, it puts an operational burden on the school system, and if we don’t have those dollars we’re going to continue to struggle from an operational standpoint,” he said.
Speaking to the Times Free Press after the meeting, Robertson said he doesn’t fundamentally disagree with Graham’s proposal but he does oppose placing all of the system’s future PILOT and TIF funds into that savings account. The system needs to use that money to hire teachers, cafeteria workers and add bus routes, he said.
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp told commissioners that officials should take a judicious approach to the issue, adding that he’s rarely comfortable with government moving too quickly.
Wamp and Robertson recently announced a facilities working group dedicated to evaluating urgent and future building needs across the school district. The group will use a 2018 facilities study by MGT Consulting Group as a baseline, which recommends a three-phase, 10-year plan at a cost of $891 million.
“This is a conversation that would be best served to be had over a period of time,” Wamp said. “There’s no reason to do it in a rush in part because there’s not a TIF or PILOT imminently … in the next eight days that would be affected by it.”
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @flavid_doyd.