The Bath County nickel tax has once again failed, and officials report it’s for the final time. The tax would have been used to generate additional funding to aid the construction of a new middle school for the county, but after residents made it clear they do not want to pay the nickel the new construction has been abandoned.
Steven Evans, Bath County Superintendent, said because the county will not be getting a new building, they will renovate the current building instead. However, Evans said it will be a costly endeavor.
“We’re going to spend money twice, we’re going to have to spend money to deconstruct, take out the roof, get into the walls, put the air in, and then pay that money to build it back. And down the line, as we have more issues, then we’ll have to repeat that process, have to deconstruct, put in, for our plumbing. So, it’s just like having a very, very old house, at some point it becomes a money pit and that’s what’s happened here,” said Evans.
Evans said the current building is nearing the end of its life, but that they will do what they can to make it last for as long as possible. The current building still needs work, and they will have to do it with a much more limited budget.
“We have a building, a middle school, that has $28 million in need, and it was going to cost $35 million to build a new one, but we’ll only have $17 million to put into it if we put it all in there, including the $7 million. And so, we’re going to sink millions of dollars into a middle school, and when we’re finished, we’ll still have $10-to-$12 million of need still in there,” said Evans.
The $7 million Evans mentions is grant funding from the state, meant to help support rural schools. They must spend that money by December of 2026, or it will go back to the state. Evans said considering how much work the current middle school needs done, spending that amount won’t be a hurdle.
He added that while he is disappointed that the nickel failed, he respects the wishes of his constituents and will do what he can with the money he has.