The school board and city council are currently scheduled to vote on whether to proceed to the next step in the GMHS/MEH redevelopment project. A vote on whether or not to proceed and issue a detailed RFP is set for Tuesday, April 12, 2016 .
Two community meetings have already taken place, one on March 30th and one on April 6th. Click on the dates to view the recording of each meeting.
The community eventually will be asked to pass a bond referendum with a tax rate impact estimated to mean $0.15 RE tax starting in FY18 if the referendum passes ($112M). This tax rate is just to fund the construction of the GMHS/MEH campus. Note, the .15 RE increase does not include any other infrastructure requirements for City Hall, the library, roads, sidewalks, etc, which could increase the tax rate even more.
The tax rate could possibly be reduced by commercial development but the details of the commercial component are unknown at this time. Concerns have been voiced by parents about having commercial property on the school campus site.
The link to the meeting last night apparently has just been made available.
http://fallschurch-va.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=721
Please tell us this is a belated April Fool’s joke.
No joke, @DaleWalton. The amount of debt will increase substantially and it is worrisome that the real cost of this is not being discussed: additional staff, teachers, maintenance personnel, (and all the benefits, health insurance and pensions that need to be funded), etc. The commercial development is not going to be completed until the school is complete so we will not realize any revenue for several years. According to Wyatt Shields last night, “It’s a lot of risk for our size (city)”
Yes, I couldn’t agree more, so let’s look at alternatives. Why the rush?