OWINGSVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Bath County Middle School has been in this community since 1939. Since then, it's seen very few major renovations. Bath County's superintendent Steven Evans says you can see what's needed before you even enter the school.
"It's to the point where it just simply tears apart,” says Evans.
This district had its first facilities planning meeting. Evans estimates this building will need around $25 million in repairs. It has leaking windows, a 1990s HVAC system, cracking stucco, an old boiler, and an unusable band room with a moisture problem.
The district is spending $18 million on its high school's renovation. It doesn't leave enough to get the middle school repaired. Because Bath County doesn't have as many businesses — as its neighboring counties — they don't get industry school taxes. The district has proposed a nickel tax that could get $360,000 from the tax annually and $560,000 from the state for 18 years.
He says, “The average house here is $86,700 by the census. If you go to our webpage, you'll see at the very top a tax calculator. You can actually enter your property value assessment and see how much more you'd pay. But the average person would pay $4.02 more a month if we went with the nickel than they did last year."
The district's board chair, John Steele, says in part, "Without funds like this, our middle school will be unusable within 10 years." Another board member, Brenda Holder, says in part, "The nickel tax will be necessary to keep this building for our current and future students."
The tax is put to a vote. Last year, the board voted to take the tax, a tax watch group got 1700 signatures to recall, and the board rescinded the vote.
Evans says, "When the school does fail, or when it gets to the position where people can no longer stomach what their kids are going to, we still won’t have the funds to fix it, and then if we pass the nickel then, it'll still be three to five years before we'd be able to get that started."
If the school is closed, Evans says repairs would take too long for students to stay out of school. He explains that they'd probably be disbursed to other schools that are already filled up and growing.
"I am fighting for our staff and students. The only thing I’d ask people to do is schedule a time with me, I will walk you through the middle school, take a look at that, and then you have to vote your conscious. 'Am I okay with kids going to school in these conditions?' and then that's how you should vote,” says Evans.
He says his goals are the best education, rewarding staff, and getting everyone a clean and safe building.
We did find that in 2021, the district was awarded more than $7 million from the "Better Kentucky Plan" for the middle school.
Evans sent LEX 18 the following statement on how the funds are used:
The $7 million is School Facilities Construction Commission (SFCC) funds. These funds have already been factored into the upcoming renovation. Our district will carry forward approximately $5-7 million in bonding, and with the SFCC $7 million, we will be in around $12-14 million dollars for the project. With the renovation estimate of $25 million, we will still be short $11-13 million. With the nickel, our bonding will increase by another $6 million reducing the shortage to $5-7 million. Then with the nickel being equalized, our district will gain approximately $800K a year in taxes, $330K from local tax, and $560K from state equalization, and our bonding will increase $1.5 million a year. The project will not start for a year, and once construction begins, it will take approximately two years to complete. This means the majority of the additional $5-7 million dollars to complete the project would become available. In short, we should be able to fund almost 100% of the renovation with the nickel tax.
