The Greene County Commission's Education Committee on Monday declined to vote on a resolution that calls for the Greene County Commission to provide $27 million in funding for construction of a new West Greene High School.

Instead, the Education Committee voted 4-to-2 to pass the West Greene High proposal along to the County Commission's Budget & Finance Committee, without a recommendation for either passage or rejection. The Budget & Finance Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

The Greene County Board of Education voted 6-1 recently in favor of building a new West Greene High School and converting the present high school to a middle school. The key favor, it has been explained, is current and anticipated overcrowding at WGHS.

The draft resolution had called on the Education Committee to "adopt and recommend the construction of a new West Greene High School."

The resolution also said the committee "supports the concept that funding for said construction must be derived from an increase in the property taxes, an increase in the wheel tax, other revenue sources or a combination of all three."

After discussion of more than one hour, the action to pass the measure on to the Budget & Finance Committee without recommending it came on a motion from Commissioner Jan Kiker, with a second from Commissioner Brenda Grogan.

Education Committee Chairman Hilton Seay had suggested that the committee pass the issue along to the Budget & Finance Committee prior to Kiker's making the formal motion to do so.

After the meeting, Dr. Joe Parkins, director of Greene County Schools, said he had hoped the Education Committee would pass the resolution.

Parkins also said that, even if the Budget & Finance Committee votes the resolution down, or fails to take a position on the issue, he already has a sponsor who has agreed to present the resolution to the Greene County Commission when it meets on May 19.

He said he was not surprised that County Commissioners John Cox and Robbie Morgan voted against sending the WGHS construction proposal to the Budget & Finance Committee.

"I'm just doing my job," Parkins said. "I feel like that (building a new West Greene High) is the best thing for the county.

"By a 6-1 vote the (county school) board feels like it's the best thing for the county. Certainly the people of West Greene, by an overwhelming majority, want (a new high school) for their end of the county."

Commissioner Morgan said at the close of the meeting that he wanted to go on the record as opposing either a possible 27-cent property-tax increase or a $20 wheel-tax increase that had been mentioned by Parkins as possible ways of funding the issuance of construction bonds for the new school.

Commissioner Cox raised numerous questions about the need for a new West Greene High School.

Parkins also had told the committee that, if a bill passes that is being sponsored in the state legislature by state Rep. David Hawk, R-5th, of Greeneville, the county could stand to receive "$1.2 million to $1.3 million" in "excess lottery funds" that could be used to help pay the first year's cost of interest on the construction bonds for a new high school.

That money, Parkins said, could, if it works out, delay a need for a local property-tax increase or wheel-tax increase by a year or more.

Parkins also said he also is working to secure "supplemental funding" from a source he declined to reveal to help pay part of the cost of issuing construction bonds.

Shortly after discussion of the issue began during the 3:30 p.m. meeting at the James W. Parham Central School Office, Commissioner Betty Ruth Alexander, a member of the Education Committee, said she was reluctant to vote on the West Greene High resolution without knowing what the county's revenue situation will be in the coming fiscal year.

Chairman Seay also noted that he was worried about a projected $550 million shortfall in the state's 2008-09 budget.

Seay said there had been times in the past when state funds normally supplied to local governments had been withheld during tight budget times. "You've got to worry, 'Is that money going to come?'," Seay said.

Dr. Parkins also noted during discussion that, while the final form of the 2008-09 state budget is not yet known, it is possible he may have to cut as much as a half-million dollars from the county school system's 2008-09 budget because of a possible decrease in state funds.

But Parkins also warned that delays in beginning construction of a new West Greene High would make the project cost much more in the future.

To illustrate the rate at which construction costs are increasing, Parkins pointed out that seven years ago, it cost only $13.5 million to build the 131,000-sq.-ft. Chuckey-Doak High.

Now, he said, estimates are that it will cost about twice as much (nearly $27 million) to build the proposed 145,000-sq.-ft. West Greene High School building.

At the current rate of increase in construction costs, Parkins said, a delay of seven years would make the cost of building a 145,000-sq.-ft. West Greene High $54 million to $55 million.

Education Committee Chairman Seay pointed out that this year, the County Commission has "three big things on its plate: the proposed new West Greene High, realignment of the runway at the Greeneville-Greene County Municipal Airport and efforts to address crowded conditions at the Greene County Detention Center (jail).

In addition, he said, the Greene County Highway Department is "in a bind" and needs an additional $800,000 during the next budget year "just to stay even."

Commissioner Cox raised a number of questions about the proposed West Greene High project.

Among other things, he noted that he had seen conflicting data about the capacity of the existing West Greene High building, noting that one document he had seen put the capacity at 750 students, while school officials now say the capacity of the building is 580 students.

Cox also asked about an ongoing study of the Greeneville-Greene County Center for Technology, which he understands focuses on upgrading that facility and possibly housing students there throughout the day, instead of only part of the day, as is now the case.

He said he understood that, if the Center for Technology is upgraded with new facilities and an enhanced curriculum, it could take as many as 200 students away from West Greene High.

Dr. Parkins said there is no guarantee that the proposed upgrading of the Center for Technology will occur in the near future.

In response to a question from Cox, however, Parkins said there could be private funds available to help finance the proposed Center for Technology upgrading.

Cox also asked if the proposed West Greene High construction project could actually be part of a plan to complete the "two high school" plan proposed in 1997.

Under that plan, Cox recalled, county school officials in 1997 had proposed to build two new consolidated high schools and to convert the existing four county high schools into middle schools.

"That is not the intent," Dr. Parkins replied.

Cox then asked if it the existing Chuckey-Doak High School and the proposed West Greene High School buildings were capable of easy expansion to hold as many as 1,600 students each.

Parkins said that, while the existing 750-student Chuckey-Doak High School is capable of being expanded by adding classrooms, there are no plans to expand it to serve as many as 1,600 students.

The proposed WGHS, he said, would be planned to serve as many as 1,000 students.

He noted that the projected enrollment for the new school in the year 2017 would be 886 students.

In other action Monday, the Education Committee approved year-end adjustments to the county school system's 2007-08 budget.

The adjustments included the transfer of $400,000 from the county school system's undesignated fund balance to its capital projects account to help pay for demolishing the existing Ottway Elementary School's cafeteria and kitchen and building a new cafeteria and kitchen.

Dr. Parkins reminded the committee that the county school board had voted in March to replace the existing Ottway cafeteria and kitchen out of concern about deteriorating concrete blocks in the walls of the cafeteria and kitchen.

Parkins noted that other budget adjustments included the transfer of $137,174 to the building improvements line item in order to "get a head start" on summer repair and improvement projects in the various county schools.

Most of the other budget adjustments, Parkins said, were related to personnel changes within the school system since the current budget was prepared and submitted about a year ago.

Parkins said the county school system had experienced "50 to 60" personnel changes since last year