New Kent Board of Supervisors defer decision on funding new elementary school

New Kent’s Board of Supervisors continue to hold steady when it comes to deciding to fund a new elementary school for the county.

County leaders deferred any decision on bond obligations for the construction of the new building at Monday night’s regular meeting.

At the March 25 work session of county leaders, District 4 representative Ron Stiers commented that he would like to see the decision delayed due to the unforeseeable economic impact of the county due to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Davenport and Company representative Ted Cole provided updated information on the bond process for the Virginia Public School Authority that would secure financing to support the school. After his presentation, New Kent superintendent of schools Brian Nichols provided a presentation to the board about the continuous increasing of enrollment for the school system.

“If you look at the live birth rate for New Kent in 2014, it was 194,” he said. “in 2019 as kindergartners, that number was closer to 240.

“Our elementary schools are continuing to see increases,” Nichols continued, pointing to three-plus percent gains each year at George Watkins Elementary and New Kent Elementary School. “While we can continue to add trailers, it’s the common areas [library, cafeteria, auditorium] that will continue to be at capacity and more.”

Stiers asked Nichols information on the price increase of the school from $28 million to roughly $35-37 million. The superintendent responded by saying that while he wasn’t there for the beginning of the process, he mentioned the increasing construction costs and materials.

“When we put this out to bid, we had four responses that were all within $200,000,” Nichols commented. “Those four bids came in higher than what we had budged for and expected.

“Materials and construction costs for material continue to go,” he added. “I am going to continue to work with the board of supervisors as I promised when I started my tenure as school board superintendent, but we don’t know if that price will go up or go down if this project is postponed a year.”

After Nichols’ comments, a decision was made to defer any decision until a later date. According to Nichols, contractors believe that if they are able to start on June 1, they will be able to have the building opened for the Fall 2021 school year.

In other actions taken by New Kent’s Board of Supervisors:

–Suspended new AFD (Agricultural Forestry District) applications for one year due to COVID-19. This move is also expected to delay the renewal process by one year for all land in the AFD areas.

–Received one written comment at a public hearing on the proposed levies and tax fees for FY2020-21. According to County Administrator Rodney Hathaway, his staff will reconvene to discuss lowering the tax rate from the advertised 82 cents per assessed value due to the coronavirus pandemic.