The ruling came after six other districts filed suit, claiming the debt should be covered by the state sales tax, not property taxes; and it called for the state to refund those funds to those districts.
However, Franny Heizer of McNair Law Firm said that because of when the Pickens school district entered its installment purchase plan to pay for its building program, it would not be eligible for a refund.
Missy Campbell, finance director for the school district, explained Heizer’s opinion during a called school board meeting Monday night.
The districts involved in the lawsuit entered their agreements before we did, she said.
Campbell said that changes in state legislation made payments for that type of funding a general obligation debt of Aug. 31, 2006.
She also said that districts involved in the case funded their payments through their general funds, unlike Pickens, which funds payments with property taxes.
Heizer said there was not way to predict if changes will be made in the requirements of Act 388, which created the one-cent sales tax, or if the question of districts like Pickens being eligible for the refund might be considered by a court at some point in the future.
“If the legal requirements change, we will advise the school district immediately on what options, if any, it would have with respect to its installment purchase
payments,” she said.
But school board member Alex Saitta questioned Heizer’s opinion on the ruling.
“The opinion defined that installment purchase payments are operating expenses, so how they are paid is irrelevant,” he said
“The school board should get a more objective opinion because McNair collects fees for the bonds the school board has to issue to make those payments,” Saitta told The Sentinel.
The board also voted unanimously to instruct Bob Folkman, who is heading up the $365 million building project, to continue dialog with the Construction Manager at Risk contractors this week.
Board members met with the contractors Monday night in an executive session that lasted more than three hours.
During that meeting, the board discussed contractual relations regarding the continuation or possible termination of the CM at Risk contracts.
Folkman was charged with reporting his findings to the school board on Aug. 17 during their regular meeting, which was moved up one week this month.
The board also passed second readings of the district’s general obligation bond resolution and fiscal year 2010 debt service budget. And they agreed to apply for federal energy stimulus money.
The district is eligible for up to $393,993, with 75 percent as a grant, and the rest as a zero percent interest loan, Campbell said.
The board agreed to apply for the funds and passed first reading on the loan, which will require three readings.
The funds are being distributed through the S.C. Energy Office for energy-cost-savings projects.
Campbell said the district doesn’t know for sure how much money it will receive, but payback of the loan, which could be up to $98,498, would begin one year after project completion.
The district would also have to repay the money within seven years, she said.
If approved, the funds would fund chiller replacements at Pickens High School, Forest Acres Elementary, and A.R. Lewis Elementary, as well as HVAC automation systems at the current Liberty Elementary School.
School board chairman Jim Shelton noted that the chiller work is already being done at PHS, and that if the funds come through, they will offset the costs already incurred.
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