Marlboro County passes school bond referendum

Marlboro County residents have passed a $18 million bond referendum to build a new elementary school to replace the aging Blenheim Elementary/Middle School.

Results show 6,235 people voted for it, and 3,424 voted against it in Tuesday’s general election.

“I am absolutely delighted and look so forward to a brand new facility for the children of Blenheim,” Superintendent Alisa Goodman said. “Their school is not conducive for learning and they need a new opportunity, so I’m so proud of the citizens stepping up to the plate and making it possible for the children.”

The proposed school, which would include kindergarten through eighth grade, would be located as close to Blenheim as possible on S.C. 38.

No site has been determined.

According to an independent facility study, Blenheim is on a split campus and space doesn’t support the educational program, so it is recommended the school be built on a new site.

Blenheim was built in 1953.

The referendum doesn’t call for a millage increase, and would be in place for 25 years.

Wes Park, the district’s chief financial officer, said in a previous interview it would take 18 mills for the project, which would generate about $1,080,000.

The district would need to maintain 33 mills to pay for the new school and other debt service.

If someone owned a home with an assessed value of $100,000, that person would pay $72 per year. If it was $50,0000, that person would pay $36 a year.
This is the district’s second attempt in the last three years at passing a bond referendum to improve its facilities.

In 2006, Marlboro County voters rejected a $66 million bond referendum that would have built five schools and renovated Bennettsville Primary, McColl Elementary and Marlboro High schools. There also would have been renovations at the Marlboro County School of Discovery if voters accepted the referendum, which would have been funded through an increase in property taxes that would have been offset by a 1-cent sales tax paid over a 25-year period.