Three weeks ahead of a Sept. 14 public hearing on how to finance construction of a community recreation center, the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors on Monday heard of alternative plans for financing the rec center and other capital improvement projects.
One plan that is on the table is to remove the $1.5 million for new tennis courts at Rockbridge County High School from a proposed fall bond financing issuance for the rec center through the Virginia Public Schools Authority and instead pay off the remaining $1.1 million owed on a bank loan that financed the purchase of industrial development property in Raphine.
Under this scenario, which includes utilizing $4 million in unassigned reserves (reduced to $2.9 million after paying off the Raphine land loan), the amount to be financed for the $15.3 million rec cen- ter through the VPSA fall bond sale would be $12.5 million.
Tyler Smith of Davenport and Company, the county’s financial adviser, offered this plan Monday as part of a presentation on how that county could pay for future capital improvement projects without raising real estate taxes in the coming years.
The key to this plan would be to have county voters pass a referendum next year (in November of 2027) to institute an additional 1 percent sales tax to help pay for future schools capital projects. This optional local tax increase, which was recently approved by the General Assembly, would, if enacted, generate approximately $3.6 million annually in new revenue for the county.
Davenport’s analysis shows the county incurring projected debt of $67,813,486 through the year 2032 – $52,813,486 for schools projects and $15 million for county projects ($10 million for expansion/renovations of the regional jail and $5 million for the sheriff’s office.)
For purposes of this analysis, the artificial turf for the RCHS football field and the Effinger HVAC project that are in the fiscal year 2027 CIP budget are excluded. The tennis courts project and related financing are assumed to be delayed one year, from FY 2027 to FY 2028. All smaller projects ($300,000 or less) in the CIP are assumed to be funded with cash or alternative sources, rather than debt financing. Also, this analysis does not assume that the county’s regional partners will share in the costs of any joint capital projects. -At the beginning of Monday’s meeting, two citizens with contrasting views shared their thoughts on the financing proposals under consideration for the rec center.
Bill Russell described as a “shell game” proposed changes to the bond issuance for the financing of the rec center that calls for paying off the loan that financed the Raphine land purchased. “Please stop moving dollars [around],” he said. The county taxpayers alliance, of which he is a member, now supports having a rec center, he said, but questions the scope of the project. He asked, “What facilities do we need?”
Tony Subrizi said he fully supports the plans for the rec center. There is a need for additional indoor recreation space, he asserted, both for local use and to hold regional sports tournaments. He said he’d found from participating in pickleball that the activity has proven to be an “outlet [with a] value that can’t be measured in dollars.”
