When Fredericksburg residents and stakeholders submit comments for a public hearing on Tuesday regarding the city budget for the upcoming fiscal year, there will be little clarity on what they’re addressing.
That’s because the proposed budget that City Manager Tim Baroody submitted last month is in flux after the School Board requested Tuesday that a new elementary school be ready to open in 2024 instead of 2026 as a task force recommended.
City Councilman Jason Graham suggested at a work session Tuesday that the $10.9 million in the proposed budget for the expansion of James Monroe High School and Lafayette Upper Elementary be redistributed to fast-track the new school.
The majority of City Council is on board with speeding up the process, but questions remain as to how that will affect the upcoming budget and what other projects may suffer as a result.
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“I don’t think there’s any question if we do this [school] project in three to four years, we’ll have to cut some other capital improvement projects,” Councilman Billy Withers said.
City Council has ambitious plans to rebuild infrastructure. The plan includes constructing a new fire station and renovating the one on Princess Anne Street, purchasing a new water meter system and upgrading the wastewater treatment plant.
Baroody’s initial budget also calls for pedestrian and lighting improvements in the Historic District.
Baroody said Tuesday that if the new school is accelerated, that alone will call for a 7- or 8-cent real estate tax increase. He said that when other projects are factored in, the increase could balloon to double digits.
Baroody said city officials may scale back the proposed 3 percent tax hike for this year to 82 cents per $100 of assessed value from 84 cents to brace for future increases.
The council voted unanimously Tuesday to disperse $1 million in unassigned funds to the new school project. The cost for the new school is estimated to be between $30 million and $35 million, but Councilman Matt Kelly said he thinks it will likely cost more than $50 million.
Still, Graham said city officials have a “moral obligation” to build the new school as quickly as possible to ease overcrowding at Hugh Mercer Elementary, which houses students in kindergarten through second grade. He said taxes shouldn’t be the determining factor when the need for additional space is imminent.
Graham said if taxes become unmanageable for residents on fixed incomes, there are abatement programs that can help. He noted that many city residents are renters and their landlords don’t live in Fredericksburg.
“If we’re concerned about keeping the tax rate low, we’re also saying we’re more concerned about people who don’t live here being able to extract more value out of the property in the City of Fredericksburg than giving money to the people that live here and need these services,” Graham said.
Councilman Tim Duffy, who is the principal at James Monroe, said his concern is that if the new school is put off for five years, it may coincide with needs at other schools and the obligations will begin to stack up.
Graham and Councilwoman Kerry Devine were both members of the school system’s Enrollment, Capacity and Expansion Task Force that initially recommended the new school open in 2026. Devine is now on board with the three-year plan because “things don’t get less expensive with time.”
“We all pride ourselves on [Fredericksburg] being such an amazing community, but it’s a community that needs to serve everybody,” Devine said. “And our youngest ones are not being well-served right now.”
Kelly mentioned a large tract in the Idlewild subdivision as a potential site for a new school. Kelly said he was alarmed to hear School Board chair Jannan Holmes say during a presentation to City Council that school officials have known for several years that a new school was needed.
“If they’ve known for 10 to 12 years that we’ve had to do this, then why did we build a park?” Kelly said. “Why did we build a courthouse? Why did we put $10 [million] to $12 million into [renovating a school administration building] when we could’ve rechanneled those monies into something like this? So I think we’re going to have to take a little bit of responsibility for that.”
Vice Mayor Chuck Frye Jr. said he’s concerned that a new school that duplicates the grades taught at an existing school could lead to segregation by economic class or race. He cautioned that city and school officials need to keep a watchful eye on how school lines are drawn.
“Any separation of classes is going to be detrimental,” Frye said. “It doesn’t go along with the city’s vision on equity, equality and race.”