Back in November, both the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and the New Hanover County school board voted unanimously on the projects that would be within that amount.
Top projects are a new Trask Middle School, located on SEA-Tech’s campus, for about 1,000 students ($94.7 million); Phase I of the New Hanover High School Master Plan ($ 59.7 million); and the replacement of the building at Pine Valley Elementary ($56.3 million).
However, there are three additional phases for the overhaul of New Hanover High School remaining to be completed, at an estimated cost of around $170 million. No funding source has been identified as of yet.
The application to the Local Government Commission, a part of the State Treasurer’s office which provides oversight for major financial decisions, is due May 4. The commissioners also approved Parker Poe Adams and Bernstein LLP as bond counsel.
Chief Financial Officer Eric Credle said that, to pay down the debt for the bond, the current estimate for taxpayers is an increase of 1.75 cents per $100 of property value. (For a house valued at $500,000, that would be an additional $87.50 annually in property taxes, about $7.30 a month.) However, he added that the county continues to analyze that number, and it "could change.”
Pending LGC approval, the county commissioners will hold a public hearing on the bond referendum on June 1. On November 16, about two weeks after Election Day, the county will certify the referendum results. If voters approve of the bond, the LGC will release the first of three tranches of funds in February 2027.
Democratic Commissioner Rob Zapple said that he believes the bond will be “embraced by the community.” Republican commissioners Dane Scalise and LeAnn Pierce, and Democrat Stephanie Walker, agreed that county and school staff worked diligently together on this agreement.
For now, if the bond is approved, the funds will be released in three phases: the first one would be $150 million, included in that would be Phase I of New Hanover High School; two to three years later, $100 million would be released, and then the last round of funding would be $70 million.
Credle said it would be a “fair assessment” that these projects would take anywhere from three to five years to complete.
Editor’s Note: Rob Zapple is a member of the WHQR Board of Directors, which has no input in editorial decisions.
