[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6620160,"mediaKeyId","2814710-de8b7778f6f06997db01414fc0bbeab4","parentId",2814710,"title","York County schools present multiyear renovation plan for Tabb High, spotlight geothermal option and classroom conversions","audioSeconds",3997,"startMs",101000,"endMs",4098000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2814710-de8b7778f6f06997db01414fc0bbeab4&start=101&end=4098","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2814710-de8b7778f6f06997db01414fc0bbeab4/thumbnail_101000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6620160/York-County/Virginia/York-County-schools-present-multiyear-renovation-plan-for-Tabb-High-spotlight-geothermal-option-and-classroom-conversions","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6620160-3b2a3f05c3e6b0b5ea8c2c6b0c689dac/orig.mp4?Expires=1775912286&Signature=WMUHkgfPBcu19qs3WeJT-4fyEiFllP95NWzpJdIaHUR9BVRRJ4RBKQd13Mi9pagLC8MtbPiPs12IFqjwtaKXjJnISRsgspYKnF6zTBKnHWmOWY~wpk2L3EWk-doerZSV8UkCYTeNryRd7PHKfTinQSncMMmC0Xi1o-Lo2awSEgYzcZqVM5mIqXF1eGEsPWDGcspVrTk1T~zFcUs2Z6Xu5EwHIf40w1mpRCjKZYR8w8py2qaMqGZG-JBoCnNvR1FpHUgJ9j65B~HEqTL~xOpBlApi4FgL8let88ITutBvOdlBwkfDYOgs-mb9ym9qw-2EjfhCaH4eY0xPunK9pN91SA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","York County","date","2025-03-27T00:00:00Z","article","Superintendent Dr. Shandor and school division staff presented the York County Board of Supervisors with a multiyear capital-improvement plan for Tabb High School on March 27, describing a project that would replace aging HVAC and electrical systems, install a new front entrance and learning commons, convert the existing library into classrooms and add other site improvements including a turf field and LED lighting.

The school division said the average age of a school in York County is 54 years and that Tabb High was built in 1972. \"The average age of a school in your county is 54 years old. And what we're talking about this evening is Tabb High School. As you can see, it was built 1972,\" Dr. Shandor said while introducing the overview of district facility work and priorities.

School officials said the project is being designed as a summer‑sequence, multiyear renovation intended to limit disruption to the high school's calendar and extracurricular programs. Dr. Carroll, the division's chief operations officer, told supervisors the Tabb renovation moved from earlier, smaller projects into a larger comprehensive plan after other priorities and rezoning changed the division's space needs: \"We were having discussions for quite a while on the fact that we would like to have a full renovation at Tabb because it was the next one,\" Carroll said.

What the project would cover
- Core systems: The CIP material presented lists rooftop, roof replacement and whole‑building HVAC replacement as major elements. School staff said Tabb's HVAC is about 27 years old and that its roof is among the oldest in the division. The planned electrical upgrade includes replacement of aging switchgear.
- Geothermal versus conventional HVAC: The division presented two construction‑only comparisons: a conventional HVAC replacement with an estimated construction cost of roughly $12.5 million and a geothermal conversion at about $15 million (construction only). School staff characterized the incremental cost for geothermal construction alone as about $2.5 million above the conventional option and said geothermal could deliver operational savings. One staff member summarized the expected operational benefit: \"Annually, we're gonna save over 100,000 right out of the gate in our operational funds,\" when comparing a geothermal program with the current energy cost for the building.
- Other components: A new learning commons and front entrance, a back‑gym entrance tied to site work, LED lighting upgrades, electrical upgrades, roof work prepared for potential solar, a new pump house related to the geothermal field, and conversion of the existing library into four to six classrooms depending on final design choices. School staff also discussed a turf field and site drainage improvements as separate but related projects.

Cost, schedule and funding questions
School officials said the current project estimate on the division CIP is substantially larger than earlier figures because additional work and program consolidations were folded into the Tabb scope. The division reported preliminary construction numbers and noted that architects and engineers have been contracted to refine scope and cost before competitive bidding. Officials said the division intends to limit on‑campus disruption by delivering much of the work in a shorter, concentrated schedule (two to three years in presentation discussion), rather than a five‑ to six‑year phased renovation.

On financing, staff said the district would propose using a mix of cash (the division noted a proposed $3 million cash contribution from the county revenue stabilization fund) and debt. County staff and supervisors asked about the expected debt‑service impact: the presentation projected the first debt payments on the Tabb project would come in fiscal 2028–2029 and described a projected increase in annual debt service tied to the project (discussion ranged around $1.7 million for the first year of payments and approximately $2.5–3.0 million in combined annual service when phased into the county schedule, figures presented and discussed by staff during the meeting).

Operational tradeoffs and longevity
School staff argued geothermal wells have long useful lives and that the division's geothermal installations elsewhere had not required replacement of buried loop fields over decades of operation. A member of the operations team said the closed‑loop wells can last decades if intact and that pumps and mechanical components typically have different lifecycle replacement schedules. Staff noted that while a geothermal conversion has an upfront premium, it reduces future HVAC replacement demand because the buried loop field is a persistent asset that would remain available for future mechanical upgrades.

Questions and concerns raised by supervisors and staff
Supervisors and county staff pressed the presenters on: the jump in the Tabb line item since the prior CIP, the added elements that drove the increase, whether the geothermal premium is justified by energy savings, the project's return‑on‑investment timeline (staff presented a roughly 25‑year ROI estimate on geothermal under static energy‑price assumptions), and whether the scope could be phased to reduce near‑term borrowing. Presenters replied that phasing would likely prolong construction impacts to students and the community and could raise total lifecycle cost through inflation and repeated mobilizations; they also identified cost‑reduction strategies under review (direct procurement of specific engineered elements, pairing bids for LED lighting and turf to capture pricing efficiencies, and seeking available state or federal energy credits if eligible).

No formal action recorded
No motion or formal vote on the Tabb project was recorded in the meeting transcript. Presenters said the school board had approved a CIP that included the project and that the board of supervisors will review and adopt a county CIP and budget later in the process.

What happens next
School staff said they are refining designs with their contracted architectural and engineering firm, expect to further narrow scope and costs before a formal competitive bid, and will return to the board and county staff with refined estimates. County staff and supervisors said they would review the refined CIP entries and the county debt schedule before making a final funding decision.

Ending
School division officials left the board with the view that the Tabb work is a near‑term priority driven by building age and unmet system replacement needs; county staff and supervisors signaled continued scrutiny of scope, timing and debt service before any final commitment.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","York County - Board of Supervisors - Mar 27, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Superintendent Dr. Shandor and school division staff presented the York County Board of Supervisors with a multiyear capital‑improvement plan for Tabb High School that would replace major systems, add a new entrance and learning commons, convert the existing library to classrooms and consider geothermal HVAC as part of the project.","taxTitle","York County, Virginia","taxId",38210,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6620155,"York County administrators outline proposed tax‑rate increase, possible cuts and CIP tradeoffs",2081,5102000,7183000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2814710-de8b7778f6f06997db01414fc0bbeab4&start=5102&end=7183","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2814710-de8b7778f6f06997db01414fc0bbeab4/thumbnail_5102000.jpg","/articles/6620155/York-County/Virginia/York-County-administrators-outline-proposed-taxrate-increase-possible-cuts-and-CIP-tradeoffs","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6620155-af83cf254c557867eb6cca2df620ba95/orig.mp4?Expires=1775912286&Signature=TLE2C~ihGDfxmrtU4pdUnM-aTJnBNUl2PLtShI4zz32jSZn4yk1~65bYoUgpvG291nmsMjw7H2jYrspZJTS3QAMm~qrqy7H4ZwT8pNlZs6wLpnwpGlGKtodtf7~TeJn-6Zf8hHDV64diT8VzOAwDMjYFU3HH5by-3S~iYoqiyGuad7WHuTzp~OndD3yN-Kw4qZxnQ6F4ZSszfYfymUCsqoifh~S9BrmODuLzHzKVudEh6sXMTjSiPLA1qNejEB27POqwy~gXGolEDAnPPhiX9f0ElOge7ZTT6-wZ4w4Gc-Vnt1tUantCJ~kN4p-IM1gY-HmFXgQIo2d5zL~VROCDew__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","York County administrators told the Board of Supervisors on March 27 that their recommended budget includes a proposed real‑estate tax rate that would raise county revenues to cover operating needs and capital projects, but they also provided supervisors with incremental options for reducing the proposed rate by half a cent up to two cents and identified the program and CIP consequences for each step.

County administrators described a multistage process of internal review and reductions that produced the current CIP and operating budget recommendations. The county administrator said senior staff and department teams had already trimmed requests through a combination of scope reductions and timing shifts and then presented to the board a series of additional options for elected supervisors to consider if they seek to lower the proposed tax rate.

\"These are not my recommendations,\" the county administrator told the board when presenting the list of potential cuts. \"I think the right budget is the one you saw on the eighteenth,\" he said, noting that the options had been prepared at the board's request so supervisors could see tradeoffs.

What was presented and why it matters
County staff summarized previously made reductions (roughly $40 million of combined county and school‑side CIP reductions and additional operating reductions) and then presented incremental operating‑and‑CIP reductions that would align to tax‑rate actions. Examples included:
- Half‑cent reduction: staff suggested a set of cuts and timing changes equal to the revenue impact of a half‑cent drop, including a grounds‑maintenance reduction, removal of library e‑book funding, and recharacterizing a Riverwalk stage cash purchase to debt financing to move cost off the FY‑26 cash budget. Staff cautioned that some cuts would reduce immediate services or planning capacity.
- One‑cent, 1.5‑cent and two‑cent scenarios: further reductions would add impacts such as increasing the regional radio life‑cycle contribution from $120,000 to $500,000 (a budgeting choice supervisors discussed), deferring Charles Brown Park master planning cash, trimming the economic‑development grant pool, and cutting operations in Fire & Life Safety and the sheriff's office (presentations listed example operational reductions in the low‑hundred‑thousand ranges per department for higher cuts).

County staff emphasized that operating reductions would affect largely people‑based budgets (public safety and public works are large operating cost centers) and that CIP reductions or delays push capital needs into future years rather than eliminating them. The county administration noted that the CIP had already been trimmed in several places through scope changes, delayed starts and other reductions prior to the board retreat and work sessions.

Tax burden context
Finance staff presented a chart comparing York County's proposed tax burden (real‑estate tax as a share of median household income) to neighboring jurisdictions. The county administrator and finance staff argued that although York County's headline tax rate is often characterized as low, the combined tax burden (rate multiplied by home value relative to income) must be considered. One finance slide showed York's proposed annual tax on a hypothetical median property and compared tax burden metrics across the region; staff observed that York remains comparatively moderate on tax burden measures after the proposed rate.

Public‑facing impacts and next steps
Presenters told supervisors that some items could be moved from cash to debt to smooth the fiscal year impact (such as converting the Riverwalk stage purchase from cash to debt), while other items would directly reduce service or grant programs. Staff also flagged that earlier CIP and operating reductions already removed or delayed projects totaling tens of millions of dollars from earlier requests.

No formal vote recorded
The board did not adopt a rate during the session; administrators said the figures and scenarios were presented to guide the board as it considers further refinements before adopting a budget and CIP in May.

Ending
County administrators asked supervisors for guidance on which tradeoffs they prefer and said staff will prepare detailed line‑item impacts for any cuts the board requests so the supervisors can set a final tax rate and adopt the FY‑26 budget in the coming months.

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York County schools present multiyear renovation plan for Tabb High, spotlight geothermal option and classroom conversions

York County administrators outline proposed tax‑rate increase, possible cuts and CIP tradeoffs