by Judy Frank
posted November 13, 2007
A majority of Signal Mountain town council members voted Monday night to use $317,000 in sales tax revenues to pay down the bond passed to help pay for a new high school.
The town has already paid more than its fair share, they told members of the standing-room-only room crowd that packed the meeting room and offered impassioned pleas both for and against paying down the debt.
Projected figures indicate just 47 percent of the students at the new school will live in the town of Signal Mountain, Councilman Bill Lusk said.
Another 15 percent will be residents of the town of Walden, while 38 percent will live in unincorporated areas.
Since Signal Mountain has contributed 77 percent of the total supplementary funds, he said, the town has already been "incredibly generous."
Councilman Lusk noted that he and other members have been lobbied heavily both by proponents of paying down the bond and by high school supporters who wanted to turn over the money to school officials with the understanding that it would be used to meet a particular need at the school.
But after reviewing where the students at the new school will come from, and comparing those figures to where the supplemental funding approved by Signal Mountain voters is raised, Councilman Lusk said he decided it would not be fiscally responsible to commit more town funds to the school.
Mayor Paul Hendricks had joined numerous proponents of the school in supporting a proposal that the money be used to buy books, furnish science labs, build the athletic program or fund some other designated need at the new school not already covered by county revenues or other sources of funding.
The $317,000 would not significantly reduce the total amount of the bond, they argued, but could make a very significant difference in what the school could offer to students when it opens during the coming school year.
Councilwoman Annette Allen - noting that the arguments made by both sides were valid - suggested using a third of the money to meet needs at the school, with the remaining two-thirds going to pay down the bond.
But council members Susan Robertson and Hershel Dick both agreed with Councilman Lusk, saying they favored using the money to pay down the town's bonded indebtedness.
"I've learned a lot about government since I got on the council," Councilwoman Robertson said. "One of the things I've learned is that our town's net fund balance has been declining since 2003 . . . I don't do debt. In this economy, it frightens me because we're saddling our children and grandchildren with more than $500,000 in debt . . . and we don't know what's going to happen."
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