Most Speakers At Hearing Voice Support For Project
“It’s about damn time.”
That’s a message David McDaniel, chairman of the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors, said he’s heard, over and over again, from his constituents, on making a decision, finally, to build a community recreation center that has been talked about for decades.
That decision was made Monday when McDaniel and two of his fellow supervisors – Jay Lewis and Leslie Ayers – voted, over the dissents of Steve Hart and Bob Day, to move forward with issuing up to $15.5 million in general obligation bonds through the Virginia Public School Authority to finance construction of the center and new tennis courts at Rockbridge County High School.
Prior to adopting this motion, the supervisors heard from 30 citizens during a public hearing that lasted nearly three hours. The overwhelming majority of speakers expressed support for the supervisors borrowing the money to build the center.
As a member of the School Board for eight years prior to becoming a supervisor, McDaniel said he’s well aware that an auxiliary gymnasium has been a capital need for RCHS ever since the school opened in 1992. “Why hasn’t it been done before now?” he asked. “Well, I can tell you why, because this was the county of ‘no’ for too long. ‘No, we don’t want this. No, we don’t want that.’ That’s why it wasn’t done. It probably could have been done 25 years ago for probably $2 million. But people said ‘no, we don’t want to do that,’ and now we’re at this point.”
Ayers said the county was short-sighted 25 years ago when it failed to move forward with building an auxiliary gym. Now, she said, the county is in a solid fiscal position to be able to afford to build a community center that will have three gyms and an indoor track that can be used by the schools and the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization.
“This is not a frivolous thing,” Ayers declared. “This is not an overnight decision. We have been working on this for as long as I’ve been on the Board. It was on [my] first [Capital Improvements Plan] almost seven years ago.”
As a mother and a long-time swimming coach, Ayers said she’s seen first-hand how it’s been a struggle for local sports teams to gain access to indoor facilities. She referenced the community bubble pool that she and her husband John Gunner played principal roles in spearheading a couple of decades ago. That endeavor was a true community project, she recalled, that had private as well as public support, including, yes, local tax dollars.
Hart, the newest member of the Board who has repeatedly warned against the county going further into debt, reiterated those concerns Monday. The county has existing debt of $87 million and another $77 million in capital needs, he said. “Every $14 million we borrow is a million dollars in debt payments per year – $110 per household in the county.”
This decision to borrow money for a recreation center, he said, “cascades into every other decision we have to make. … I don’t know where the money is going to come from. The only revenue we control is property taxes – personal property and real estate.” Despite assurances from the county’s advisers that taxes won’t have to be raised, Hart said he has his doubts. “I’m so terribly scared that we’re going to blunder into this,” having to raise taxes “two or three or four years into the future.”
Day said he opposed the idea of combining RARO and the high school. He alluded to other property being available earlier for RARO and ball fields that the county could have acquired. “I appreciate everybody showing up but I’m just not sure this is the right move to combine RARO and the high school.”
McDaniel noted that the center has been designed with input from stakeholders, including RARO and the schools. “We listened to our financial partners. They told us we have the ability to do this … I think it’s good for our community. I think it’s good for all ages in our community. The one thing people have told me, overwhelmingly – 80, 85 percent support it – the main comment is ‘about damn time.’
“It’s about time we did something for our kids in this community. It’s about time we helped our students at Rockbridge County High School. It’s about time the seniors had somewhere to go and felt like a part of the community. Yes, it’s about time that we take a vote.”
A motion by Lewis to adopt a resolution to issue the bonds for the project was seconded by Ayers and passed 3-2.
