Voting for Beaufort County schools’ largest referendum yet? Here’s the $439M breakdown
Voters will decide if Beaufort County schools will borrow $439 million in bonds on the ballot in November and district has prioritized preventing overcrowding, safety and modernization. More than half of the funds generated by these bonds would be allocated to two schools in the district.
“We have the opportunity through this to really reduce the overcrowding in in some of our most overcrowded elementary schools in Bluffton,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said. “With each of these projects (there are) important component(s) that we wouldn’t be able to really execute on (without the referendum).”
Most of the nearly half a billion dollars would go toward modernizing or constructing new facilities to help address population growth and overcrowding. Beaufort County’s population has increased about 21% from 162,299 in 2010 to 196,371 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census. These very same taxpayers will be responsible for repaying this bond.
A new elementary school in Bluffton would use $56.5 million, about 13% of the money. From 2010 until the last U.S. Census report in 2021, Bluffton’s population has increased by over 150% from 12,530 to 31,191. Pritchardville Elementary School in Bluffton is at 126% building capacity without considering its mobile units, and 87% building capacity considering mobiles. For program capacity, which considers curriculum and program offerings, it’s at 161% capacity.
The $439 million is more than the school district’s 2023-24 operating budget of $320 million. But, despite the large sum, taxpayers wouldn’t see a change in their bill because the millage rate would stay at 36.3 mills, which was passed in the district’s 2019 $345 million referendum, according to Rodriguez and Chief Financial Officer Tonya Crosby
Crosby oversees the school district’s finance division and is a certified public accountant and a certified government finance officer. She said the bonds “will be long term bonds, I would say in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 years.”
“I would rely upon what Dr. Rodriguez and Tonya Crosby have been telling the school board as accurate,” Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway said.
The millage rate is the number of mills imposed on taxpayers to meet each district budget, according to the Beaufort County auditor’s website. One mill equals 1/1000 of a dollar, and taxpayers will already pay 130 mills to meet the school districts normal operating budget for fiscal year 2023-24.
Crosby said that they will create a calculator to estimate how much each Beaufort County resident would pay under the referendum, like they did for the 2019 referendum. “Although the millage won’t change, the values of homes have significantly changed,” she said. “We may increase those average home values in order to give a better estimate with current times.”
Hilton Head Island High School’s rebuild would be the most costly at $167.4 million accounting for nearly 38% of the referendum money. Lady’s Island Middle School’s replacement would be the second most costly at $65 million, accounting for about 15% of the money.
Rodriguez said that if the referendum is passed, ground breaking for building projects could be seen as soon as spring 2024.
Other aspects of the referendum, like $22.4 million in additional safety and security enhancements would be spread out through the next four-to-five years.
“This (would) add additional safety and security measures to our facilities beyond what the existing safety and security measures from the current referendum have done,” Rodriguez said, but added that he couldn’t yet give specifics about what they would be for security reasons.
In the 2019 referendum, schools saw security improvements such as a mass notification system, panic buttons at the main office, bullet-resistant entryways, camera system upgrades and fencing.
This would be the district’s largest bond referendum, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder.
‘A very different situation’ from under Jeff Moss
This referendum vote comes four years after the 2019 referendum, which was the first school bond referendum in 11 years and followed two failed votes in 2016 and 2018 under embattled superintendent Jeff Moss and a dysfunctional school board.
“I don’t think Moss could have passed a 100 dollar bond,” Beaufort County Republican Party Chairman Kevin Hennelly said, explaining it’s a matter of trust in the school board and superintendent.
“My take on Beaufort County right now is we probably have one of the better school superintendents in the state. It’s a very different situation than we had here five or six years ago,” he said. “If I was going in there (to vote) now. I wouldn’t be looking at the $439 (million). I’d be looking at who’s the superintendent, and are they doing a good job?”
The 2019 referendum passed with about 70% of the vote, and Rodriguez’s promise to establish a citizen-led oversight committee to monitor how the district is spending the community’s dollars that come from bond referendum. The same oversight committee would oversee this referendum and its projects.
“There’s an enormous amount of expertise from our community,” Rodriguez said. The committee, consisting of business people and financial experts in the community meets monthly and reports quarterly to the school board.
Another separate review committee consisting of county residents nominated by board members, the Community Project Review Committee, identified $980 million in facilities needs earlier this year and Rodriguez recommended the projects in the November referendum from those needs.
While the needs in the proposed $439 million referendum are more pressing, there are also other needs included in the $980 million, Rodriguez said.
“You’re always planning for all of your needs well ahead of time,” he said. “They were merely saying, ‘You’re going to need to look at this in about four or five years.’”
What’s the breakdown?
The school board voted to submit the question in November ballots last week in a 9-1 vote. In the same meeting Rodriguez broke down the funds into the following:
- Rebuild of Hilton Head Island High School — $167.4 million
- Replacement Lady’s Island Middle School — $65 million
- New preK-5 elementary school in Bluffton — $56.5 million
- Riverview gym — $19.2 million
- Career and technical education renovations and additions — $36.4 million
- Technology warehouse imaging center — $3.7 million
- HVAC replacements — $16.9 million
- Furniture — $1.6 million
- Parking lots/drives/sidewalks — $17.7 million
- Additional safety and security enhancements — $22.4 million
- New Early Childhood Center in Bluffton — $29.7 million
- Constructing and equipping a kitchen for the Right Choices Alternative Program and the District Educational Services Center— $2.4 million
The district is bound by state law to only use the money from bond referendums for what’s listed on the ballot.
This story was originally published June 22, 2023 at 2:51 PM.
