By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
While a building-by-building breakdown is not yet available, there is little doubt that work to improve facilities in the Forrest City School District will cost in the millions.
Make that $25 million.
That is part of an estimated statewide $2.3 billion, a figure which could increase to $4.5 billion when figuring in enrollment growth over the next five years. That is the amount experts say needs to be spent statewide to bring public school buildings up to standard.
Lee Vent, superintendent of Forrest City Schools, said he has seen the 77-page full report, but still has not had time to digest, point by point, what needs to be done locally.
The total cost of the Forrest City District's physical plant is around $67 million.
Speaking from Little Rock this morning, Vent said more than one area is considered in the cost estimates.
"One is the condition of the buildings," he said. "Another is the suitability -- space per child, that sort of thing, along with health and safety issues. Third is student growth, but right now that's not a problem in Eastern Arkansas, especially for us."
Vent said that of the $25 million estimated locally, about $17 would deal with the condition of the buildings, and another $8 million would deal with "suitability."
The report has been submitted to the state Legislature, which will have the job of figuring out how to get the money.
"That's going to be the interesting part," Vent said. "It's going to be an interesting legislative session. I'm sure that school facilities will be on the front burner throughout the session."
It all goes back to the Lake View decision, which stated that school facilities were declared substandard.
"I don't know at this juncture whether to feel good or feel bad" about the situation, Vent admitted. "I do know they came to the district during the summer and assessed our facilities. And while we feel good about some of our facilities, we do have some that are indeed in need of repair. I think closing the Caldwell campus was a major move toward helping us some with this."
He said the report will be studied with school officials and see "what we're going to have to do to get where we need to go."
Vent continued, "We will receive, I think, major state funding to help, but how much is going to be forced back on the district, I have no idea."
He said he believed health and safety issues would be dealt with first.
School construction experts assessed 6,569 temporary and permanent school buildings as part of a state Supreme Court order. They said $2.3 billion is needed to repair existing problems, and another $586 million is needed to enlarge classrooms and fund other renovations to ensure the "educational suitability" of all buildings. The total rises to $4.5 billion when figuring in enrollment growth over the next five years.
Contacted this morning, David Dunn, who will be a freshman state representative in the next legislative session, said he would be in a Revenue and Taxation meeting this afternoon.
"I'm sure that's going to be a hot topic," said Dunn. "It really hasn't been discussed yet because yesterday was when we got the report."
Dunn said the money will have to come from several sources, including local.
"I don't think the Legislature will be able to raise the kind of money to heal all the issues," he said. "It's going to come down to the local level. The money is going to have to come from more than one source."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
A program extending sewer services to three neighborhoods near Forrest City is nearing completion after several years of work.
St. Francis County Justice of the Peace Sam Armstrong, along with County Judge Carl Cisco, met with officials Tuesday for a pre-construction meeting on the final grant portion of the project.
According to Armstrong, the only remaining project will bring sewer services to 36 low-to-moderate income families in the Patillo Acres I and Patillo Acres II subdivisions along with the Redfern subdivision.
"This project has been a long time coming and will really benefit those folks in those areas. This will bring sewer to an area that desperately needed it and will allow for growth in those communities," said Armstrong.
The project is expected to take approximately 90 days to complete once work begins, according to Ira Sims, a plumber for the project. Sims submitted the low bid on the project and said that he hopes to begin within the next 10 days.
"Once we get everything going, we will have 90 days to complete the project, according to our contract, weather permitting. Right now, we couldn't get out there and do anything because it is so wet, but we're really hoping to get started on this within the next 10 days," Sims said.
A $2.2 million grant from the Arkansas Department of Economic Development helped facilitate the project, and according to Armstrong, the state has worked with county officials throughout the process.
"Francille (Francille Honeycutt with ADED) is the one that provides our funding, and she has really worked with us on this project. She is even working with us on adding a new generator to the pumping station on Mallory Road which will help deal with the increased load," Armstrong said.
The 400 kilowatt generator will provide backup power in case of an outage at the Mallory Road location. According to Honeycutt, the connection part of the project will be completed long before the generator will be installed. The hold up on the generator is due in part to the need for large generators in Iraq, according to Armstrong. "We had to order the generator from Caterpillar, and it's going to take about six months before it will get here. Part of the problem is that they have had to provide so many generators to Iraq that we've had to be put on a list," said Armstrong.
According to Armstrong, people living in the area who are not
a part of the low-to-moderate income hook-up may connect to the
system now through the use of private contractors.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City Rotarians were updated on business in Arkansas during the club's regular weekly meeting on Tuesday.
Jeff Hankins, publisher of Arkansas Business, spoke on a variety of issues ranging from the legislature to Arkansas' publicly held companies.
According to Hankins, Tuesday's announcement from the Arkansas Task Force to the Joint Committee on Education Facilities Report will cause difficulty for legislators with the upcoming budget.
"This next legislative session is really going to be a doozy. With the announcement today of more than $4 billion in facilities improvements needed in our schools, legislators are going to have to attempt to come up with the funding from somewhere," Hankins said. "At the state level, we already rank in the top nationally in taxes, so we can't raise our taxes and remain competitive in attempting to lure companies to the area. The legislature is also going to have to face issues in higher education. Our actual spending in higher education is good, but the problem lies in the fact that we have so many four-year institutions in the state that the pie is cut into too many pieces, and we're now seeing higher tuition to offset the losses from the state," Hankins said.
"It used to be that Arkansas was competitive in tuition and room and board, but over the last six or seven years we've seen across-the-board increases. We've heard for years about the possibility of the lottery and casino issue, and I think that higher education may begin to call more for a lottery considering the success that has been seen in Georgia and Florida and states that use funding from the lottery to provide scholarships to students," he said.
Hankins also said that legislators may hear requests from Gov. Mike Huckabee to increase healthcare funding.
"You've got all of these needs, so you turn to look at the revenue growth and right now it looks pretty good. The positive news is that we appear to be headed in the right direction, but that is when it is compared to last year. You have to look at the overall picture to really get a clear view," said Hankins.
Hankins also told Rotarians that investors can expect to see some type of bond issue from he legislature which could help fund the school facilities needs.
"Everyone agrees that we will see some sort of bond issue to attempt to fund the facilities issue. That report is going to lead to a big economic boon for those people in construction, people who buy and sell bonds and the bond lawyers," Hankins said with a laugh.
According to Hankins, the state is beginning to see a leveling off in manufacturing after a period of losses in manufacturing jobs across the state.
"We've basically stopped the bleeding as far as manufacturing is concerned. After seeing a period of time where we lost thousands of manufacturing positions, we're seeing the net jobs gained beginning to increase and we're expecting to break even over the next two years," Hankins said.
Village Creek State Park is doing its part to make the holiday season a little brighter for disadvantaged children in the area with a benefit ride scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4.
According to a press release from VCSP, riders can check in for the ride beginning at 8 a.m. in the horse trailer parking lot. Each rider is being asked to bring an unwrapped toy with a value of $10 or more and there will be no trail fee. Riders who wish to camp for the weekend must call ahead for reservations.
Riders must have negative Coggins papers on each horse, copies
are not acceptable. Donations are also being accepted at the park
or through the mail from non-horse owners. For more information
call Village Creek State Park at (870) 238-9406. The park is located
six miles southeast of Wynne.
Three people were sentenced to time in the state penitentiary during circuit court proceedings before Judge Harvey Yates Tuesday at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
Tajuan Martez Dent, 19, of 913 N. Division, Forrest City, was sentenced to three years in prison on a drug charge.
Dent was arrested in February this year for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver near certain facilities. He pled guilty to an amended drug charge and was sentenced to three years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections with credit for time served. Dent was out of jail on bond for a previous robbery charge when he was arrested. Dent was also arrested in June this year on a charge of theft by receiving, but that case was nolle prosequi, according to court records.
Johnathan Davenport, 18, was sentenced Tuesday in four separate cases.
Davenport was arrested in June this year on a charge of aggravated robbery, and in September on a felony charge of terroristic threatening. He was arrested in November last year on several counts of forgery. In each of these cases, Davenport pled guilty and was sentenced to three years in the ADC, with those sentences to run concurrently. Davenport was also arrested in April this year on a charge of auto theft, but that charge was nolle prosequi, court records show.
Kenny Jones, 40, 176 Gregory, Forrest City, was sentenced to five years in the ADC on three separate cases.
Jones was arrested on drug charges three times in a one-year span. He was arrested on possession charges, involving marijuana and crack cocaine, in June 2003, January 2004 and again in June 2004. He was sentenced to five years in prison in each case, but those sentences are scheduled to run concurrently.