LAURINBURG, N.C. -- The Scotland County Board of Commissioners will discuss how to pay for several projects over the next few weeks including expanding two elementary schools, repaving DSS parking lot and renovating the former Morgan center.
The commissioners will combine the water board meeting and their regular meeting on Aug. 7 at the AB Gibson Center located on Cronly Street to discuss refinancing the current water bond. The water board meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m., and the regular meeting will take place at 7 p.m.
The board will then recess until Aug. 8 for a public input hearing on the school consolidation debt, which will also be held at the AB Gibson Center.
The county is looking to combine several projects under one bond along with expansions at Sycamore Lane and Laurel Hill Elementary Schools.
The projected total amount of the bond will not exceed $25 million with just over $14 million going to renovations at the schools and more than $10 million going to other projects.
The board will finalize an amount in early September because once the Local Government Commission approves a loan amount the county may not exceed that.
In that package, the county will combine financing to cover the cost of renovations of the former Edwin Morgan Center Nursing home which will be used jointly by Richmond Community College and the county after renovation, repaving the parking lot at the county complex and refinancing the current water bond at a lower rate.
Repaving the parking lot at DSS/ Health Department will cost the county approximately a half million dollars.
"The three parking lots out there are in pretty bad shape, so we're basically going to have to start over on that," said Commissioner Guy McCook.
Part of the new debt will include refinancing the county's current debt for water systems; refinancing would save the county money over the remaining term of the loan.
"The estimate from the financing underwriters says the county will save seven percent by refinancing," Patterson said.
The debit is a general obligation bond held by the USDA with a remaining balance of approximately $5.7 million.
Patterson told the board that a notice of public hearing on financing the school extensions needed to be set before the end of July.
The renovations for both schools are currently out for bid and expected to be back by August 8. At that time the county will hold a hearing to allow public input on the issue before accepting a bid and bundling it with the application for debt.
In order for the county to finance the venture it must take possession of Sycamore Lane and Laurel Hill Schools.
Sycamore Lane will be used as collateral for the 20 year term of the loan and possession of Laurel Hill will be returned to the school system once the expansion has been completed.
"To do so will give the county financial gains in refunds from sales tax that the contractors pay during construction," Patterson said. "That will drive down the cost of construction."
While the county maintains ownership of the buildings, it will lease them to the school system who will be responsible for operational costs.
The county went through the same process with Wagram Primary School which has three more years left on its loan.
The board should also have formal designs for the overhaul of Morgan Center by that date, according to Patterson.
The Capital Committee and the Policy Committee meetings have not been set but are expected to take place sometime between the end of July and first week of August, according to Travis Allan assistant to the county manager.
The Policy Committee will discuss consolidating the DSS and Health Boards and some procedural changes that will require updates to meet federal requirements.
The finance committee will look at the plans for Morgan Center and discuss some issues pertaining to the historic properties at the John Blue Complex.
The committee will also discuss a request from the Growing Change project at the former prison in Wagram. Renovations are set to begin on the prison building and the group asked Carol McCall to request that the commissioners consider a measure to relieve some of the burden it would face from dumpster and landfill fees.
Commissioner Clarence McPhatter told McCall that making an allowance for one group could be "a slippery slope"and McCook agreed.
The proposal brought up a discussion about creating a countywide policy to alleviate the financial burden for nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity with regard to landfill fees.
"I had the same thoughts Clarence did, it might be worth having a discussion at the policy committee about if we have a policy in place for nonprofits that use the landfill, can we waive different fees," McCook said.
The general consensus was that such a policy might benefit local charities without costing the county too much money.
