School Board committee recommends property purchases
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 7:12 PM
By Eric Cormier / American Press
A Calcasieu School Board committee is recommending that the administration be allowed to negotiate property purchases for a new elementary school in Moss Bluff and athletic complexes at Washington-Marion Magnet High and Vinton High.
Parish school officials believe growth in the Moss Bluff area warrants the construction of a new school, which would be able to serve at least 650 students, according to school system Chief Financial Officer Karl Bruchhaus.
Moss Bluff Elementary has an enrollment of 1,000 students and Gillis has 850.
The administration is interested in purchasing 20 acres on the east side of North Perkins Ferry Road between La. 378 (Sam Houston Jones Parkway) and Joe Miller Road.
Bruchhaus told the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee on Tuesday that “this is the area that we need to be.”
School Board officials estimate the new facility would cost $7 million to $9 million to build. Details on how the project would be financed have not been completed.
“It will take additional funding and there are a lot of factors — like the economy — that will determine when the opportunity is right to ask for additional funding through a bond proposition. It is important for voters to feel comfortable with any proposal,” Bruchhaus told the American Press.
He said the new school would not be the next one built in the parish.
“We fund capital outlay projects by district. In the spring, there will be three bond propositions, and none of them will be for Moss Bluff,” Bruchhaus said.
Propositions will be presented to voters in Vinton, Iowa and Sulphur. If approved, collected taxes would fund school remodeling while the tax in Iowa would pay for the construction of a middle school.
Land purchases near Washington-Marion High and Vinton High would create additional space for baseball and softball complexes at each school.
At the Washington-Marion High site the School Board wants to buy 4.7 acres of land at $17,000 or $79,900.
In Vinton, the agency wants to buy 13.4 acres of land, but still needs to negotiate a price.
School Board land purchases are financed through the use of annual riverboat head tax money.
The School Board’s portion is $2.5 million and also pays for the construction of temporary school facilities.
The recommendations will be presented to the full School Board for final approval.
Posted By: My vote is NO On: 10/24/2012
Title: NO!
Voters in the Parish should vote NO on anything in Moss Bluff until that area becomes incorporated. People on the Calcasieu Parish area are sick and tired of paying extra taxes to build up Moss Bluff, while there are other areas in need as well; specifically areas in which people have to pay MORE than their share of taxes.
NO!
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