News

County board tackles four-year building plan

By Bill Moss, Published: January 21, 2015

 The Henderson County Board of Commissioners will take its first step this week toward framing the next four years of capital spending.

When commissioners convene for their annual budget retreat, they will be looking at spending $44 million on projects already chalked in, not counting schools. Tops on the list is the $32 million Joint Medical Education Facility, the result of a five-party agreement signed by the county, the city of Hendersonville, Wingate University, Blue Ridge Community College and Pardee Hospital.
County Manager Steve Wyatt and county commissioners have already committed to the process that worked well starting in 2011, when they adopted a four-year capital spending plan that kept the tax rate steady at 51.36 cents per $100 valuation and maintained a rainy day fund of more than $30 million.
Among the major projects on the docket for the commissioners are the health sciences building, a new emergency medical services headquarters, renovations to the Grove Street Courthouse plus major renovations or additions at Hendersonville High School, Balfour Education Center, Upward Elementary School and Edneyville Elementary School. The EMS project, with a projected pricetag of $9 million, could be another collaboration of BRCC and the county.
"I think that's needed. Schools are needed," Commissioner Michael Edney said. "There's a lot of capital projects. We've got to find a way to fund them."
As in its planning workshop four years ago, when Edney was chair, the commissioners are expected to commit to a longer range approach.
"I fully expect what will come out of this is another four-year plan," Edney said. "It's all big picture stuff."
Major projects, their projected cost and status include:
• Grove Street Courthouse renovation and security upgrade, $1 million. Commissioners threw out the bids last year when the lowest price came in 30 percent higher than the amount budgeted. In listing their priorities for the budget retreat, both Edney and board Chairman Tommy Thompson both named courthouse security.
• Seven Falls roads, water and sewer, $6 million. Although the infrastructure work is not funded with tax dollars, the Seven Falls rescue remains a priority for commissioners. The county has just advertised for bids for five miles of road work. But it has only $5½ million left after paying for emergency stabilization work and it faces $1 million in remediation before it can get a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit. No one knows how far the $5½ million will go but everyone agrees it won't go far enough.
• Westfeldt Park Greenway, $250,000. Funded by state and regional grants, the project on the French Broad River near Sierra Nevada is 5 percent complete.
• Tuxedo Community Park, $453,000. Aided by $28,000 in donations from the Green River community, the grading, paving and landscaping project is 70 percent complete.
• Emergency services facility, $9 million. For the first time, the county would house the EMS headquarters and Rescue Squad under one roof. Commissioners could settle on a location at BRCC and launch a partnership with the college that would offer training and hands-on experience.
The school projects have no pricetag yet.
The county borrowed $25.8 million in 2005 for the Human Services Building and Dana Elementary School renovation and $41.6 million in 2006 for the Historic Courthouse renovation, Technical Building and Blue Ridge Conference Center at BRCC and Sugarloaf Elementary School.
Commissioners will set a new tax rate once the revaluation is complete. They must calculate and advertise a revenue neutral rate based on the overall taxable valuation. Tax Assessor Stan Duncan said he would not have a projected number in time for this week's budget retreat but would provide a figure by Feb. 18.
Henderson County's tax rate is the fourth lowest among 27 urban counties in the state and 22nd lowest overall. As the county pays off debt from past loans for capital projects, it will have the capacity to allocate that money to new debt service. Over the next four years, the county will gain $3.88 million as debt service drops.
The board's all-day budget workshop starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Topics commissioners identified as priorities were:
• Bill Lapsley: long-term school construction, community economic assessment.
• Grady Hawkins: fund balance policy, capital projects, four-year plan on tax rate, retiring debt and revenue projections.
• Michael Edney: Ecusta Trail (see sidebar), register of deeds technology, Grove Street Courthouse security.
• Charlie Messer: Irrigation at Jackson Park.
• Tommy Thompson: Grove Street Courthouse renovation, county government facilities and services within municipalities.