The Horry County Board of Education on Monday delayed a vote on whether to issue bonds up to $100 million to fund its capital improvement plan.
The board approved $88.2 million in capital projects at its Dec. 7 meeting, but authorization for up to $100 million would allow the district flexibility for joint projects such as one the school board is working on with Horry-Georgetown Technical College, according to Jeff Riddle, the district's chief financial officer.
Board members Joe DeFeo, District 3, and Trent Hardee, District 11, during Monday's school board meeting at Green Sea Floyds High School, said they wanted more information before voting on the bonds.
"This is an exciting vote for us ... and a great opportunity," said Cindy Elsberry, superintendent for Horry County Schools, who said they would look at setting up a work session so that board members can get more information.
Frannie Heizer from the McNair Firm, a Columbia law firm, presented the bond resolution and also answered questions about the joint agreement, which calls for HCS and HGTC to construct a new building on the HGTC campus for joint use and to benefit the Early College High School program, which allows qualified high school students to begin taking college courses at HGTC before they graduate.
Heizer explained the proposed joint-use ownership agreement and said that with two public entities coming together, a more informal partnership would work best to manage the new facility without creating a separate entity.
"We believe we can work out an agreement where Horry schools are owning the parts they primarily use, and Tech would own the areas they would primarily use," Heizer said, "then there would be common areas."
Heizer said she foresees both HCS and HGTC appointing representatives to a subcommittee for governance.
The new building would have three floors of about 15,000 square feet each, and about 30,000 square feet would be used by Early College students.
"We have a track record of working with Horry-Georgetown Technical College," Elsberry said. "Our needs have grown over time, and we've learned from that ... a common understanding and flexibility."
According to Bobby Nalley, chief support services officer for HCS, if all goes well, work could begin in the fall of this year with probable occupancy in August 2012.
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