GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — The recent vote in Lakeland could impact other cities.
Other communities are looking to build schools and finding ways to pay for them.
Some Lakeland voters didn’t have a hard time voting against a $50 million bond to build a new school.
“The numbers don’t add up, so it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, we do need schools when we can afford them but not now,” said a Lakeland voter.
Germantown could also face a similar situation.
City Administrator Patrick Lawton said it was too early to know if or when the city would consider a referendum to build a new school.
“We are working with Germantown Municipal School District, they’re in the process one year in but they’re in the process of identifying what their long term growth needs are, whether it’s removal of portables at Riverdale Elementary, the possibility of construction of an elementary school,” he said.
Lawton said they were also thinking about adding on to Riverdale Elementary.
Adding on to the school and building a new one would cost more than $22 million.
This wasn’t included in the budget for 2016.
“That’s not to say that at some point very early on in the fiscal year July that we won’t sit down at the table again with our friends on the school board and look very closely at their priorities for new construction and renovation,” he said.
Collierville was also looking into possibly building a new high school.
The estimated cost was $90 million.
School district leaders said it was important to add extra schools in order to compete with other cities.
Collierville projected the tax increase would be around 34 to 38 cents.
The amount of the tax would not require a referendum from voters, but did require a vote by the Board of Alderman to float a municipal paying bond to reveal the source that is providing the money.l bond.
