City Council members discuss school finances

JACKSON, Tenn. — Jackson City Council members do not want to send the city into more debt to fund the public-private partnership.

“We were concerned whether or not, if the city did go forward with the project, to just borrow the money or to go forward with this new market tax credits to help provide part of the funding,” Councilman Randy Wallace said.

A financial adviser gave them a first look at the situation.

“I came here to provide an independent analysis to the city on, one, whether they can afford the new schools, and two, are there alternatives to funding the schools or a cheaper way to fund the schools,” said Whit Moloney, senior VP of public finance at Piper Jeffery.

One of those alternatives would be taking out a loan, rather than going through the Community Redevelopment Agency. Wallace says this could mean having to take another look at existing budget items.

“The city is going to have to give up some of our projects that we kind of have on the back burner already if we spend the money on the schools,” he said.

Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist said paying for the schools isn’t the city’s responsibility, and if they did join the partnership, it would be a gift to education.

“I don’t feel that we’re asking the city taxpayers to pay twice for it because they’re already paying to the county because the city is in the county,” Wallace said.

Councilman Johnny Dodd says he backs the plan 100 percent.

“If we can get the numbers right, hopefully it won’t put us in a hole, but I think education is very important in our community,” he said.

But, Dodd said the City Council needs final cost estimates before completely committing to the plan.

“We can approve the project, but basically waiting to get the final numbers to see if it’s something we can do,” he said.

The committee that met Thursday voted three to two to send the adviser’s recommendation to the full City Council at the next meeting on Nov. 13.