District seeking approval for bond referendum to build Marlboro County school

Marlboro County School District is seeking residents’ approval in November for a $18 million bond referendum to build a new elementary school to replace the aging Blenheim Elementary/Middle School.

The referendum wouldn’t call for a millage increase and would be for 25 years.

Wes Park, the district’s chief financial officer, said the district’s debt service mills would be maintained at its current rate.

“We’ve got some debt (service mills) that’s going to be retired, so we’re going to be able to fill that void with a new bond issue,” Park said. “So assuming that the voters approve the bond referendum, we will be able to construct a school without having to increase tax millage.”

Park said 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.

Park said millage would continue to “fall (or roll off) over the next few years.”

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.

The referendum would include all costs associated with construction of the new school, and equipment and furnishings.

Superintendent Alisa Goodman said three facility studies were completed, and all determined Blenheim would need to be replaced first.

Facility studies were done by two committees made up of school administrators, teachers, parents and community members not affiliated with the district, and by Dr. Ken Stevenson, a professor at the
University of South Carolina.

The district’s board of trustees approved hiring Stevenson as its education facility study consultant in 2007.

According to Stevenson’s facility study, Blenheim is on a split campus and spaces don’t support the educational program, so it is recommended the school be built on a new site.
Blenheim was built in 1953.

Goodman said the school, which would include kindergarten through eighth grade, would be located somewhere between Blenheim and the city limits of Bennettsville. She said the school would be located as close to Blenheim as possible on S.C. 38.

The district will conduct public forums on the matter in all areas of the county, Goodman said. She said she already has conducted a public meeting in Blenheim to inform residents of the proposed referendum and made presentations to local civic groups.

This would be 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.