District finance update: Lake Wylie project shortfall, Liberty Hill allowances and plan to seek impact-fee review with York County

District finance and construction staff presented an update on capital projects and funding options at the work session and outlined next steps on borrowing and a five-year impact-fee review with York County.

Kelly Clayton and other district staff summarized progress on multiple capital projects approved in 2022 and later. The district reported that the set of 2022 projects — a fitness center, track widening, resurfacing, new tennis courts, commons renovation and front entrance/traffic-loop work — remain within the $17 million budget approved in 2022, with only site and traffic-loop costs projected as outstanding.

The fine-arts addition for the ninth-grade campus was budgeted at $5,100,000 and staff said construction is about 75% complete; staff currently project this work to come in at or just under budget. Southern Builders was named in the presentation as the contractor on that project.

Lake Wylie High School: staff reported the largest concern is Lake Wylie High School's construction budget. The voters authorized $156 million for the high school; the project was bid and estimated elsewhere at roughly $172 million. District staff said about $148 million is currently encumbered across the site-work and building contracts (including a site-work contract with Hoopaw and a building contract with Contract Construction). With athletics and landscaping still to be bid, staff projected a roughly $5,000,000 shortfall on the overall Lake Wylie project if current estimates hold.

Liberty Hill Elementary: staff reported that original budget authorization was roughly $52 million and current construction numbers show approximately $47 million encumbered. The district said the project carries about $1.2 million in allowances that can be used to mitigate overages and that a prior value-engineering (VE) process reduced bid scope by approximately $770,000.

On athletics packages for the new high school, the district said it plans to advertise the work with a mid-April bid opening, seeking separate bids for baseball, softball, tennis courts, track, band field, sprigging/irrigation and field lighting — a deliberate split intended to achieve more competitive pricing and allow the building to progress sooner.

Finance and borrowing plan: a district finance presenter described the planned borrowing timeline. The district said it previously issued general obligation (G.O.) bonds and that the board can issue G.O. bonds up to 8% of assessed value. Staff reported having issued $120 million so far toward high school construction and that roughly $36 million remains of the voter-authorized $156 million. The district plans to issue roughly $32 million of additional general obligation bonds in an August–September issuance to finish the elementary school work, with the county tax office's schedule in mind so the payment can be reflected in October tax bills. Staff said a special-obligation bond or other financing may be used later to complete the high school after those remaining voter-authorized dollars are spent; the district said a board resolution authorizing transactions would be needed in October.

A finance presenter also said interest earnings and premiums on bond proceeds will help offset some costs. The district reported earning interest on bond proceeds but that arbitrage rules require repayment to the federal government on some earnings; staff estimated that bond earnings and premiums could reduce the remaining shortfall by several million dollars.

Impact-fee review: the district's presentation covered the five-year review requirement under South Carolina law and proposed a timeline to seek a county-led review. The presentation named the Impact Fee Act (Title 6, Chapter 1, Article 9) and the Comprehensive Plan Act (Title 6, Chapter 29, Article 5) as the governing statutes and described York County's role: the planning commission reviews the impact fee and makes a recommendation to county council, which approves any ordinance. The district's current Tishler Bice impact-fee study dates from June 2020 and the county approved the district's fee in January 2021.

Current fee amounts and collections: staff said the county approved lower-than-maximum fees for Clover: for single-family homes the board had qualified for a maximum allowable fee of roughly $15,000 but county council approved a fee of about $4,000; the transcript shows multifamily and mobile-home amounts with maximum allowable figures and the council-approved amounts ($1,009.76 for multifamily, $2,006.18 for mobile homes). Staff said the district has collected just over $5,000,000 in impact fees over the past five years.

Planned request to county: district staff proposed asking York County to direct its planning commission to review the district's impact fee on the county's five-year review cycle. Staff proposed a timeline to send a letter to county leadership by the end of the month (pending a March board vote), complete in-house updates to enrollment and capacity studies by July, submit materials to the county planning commission by August, and seek county-council approval by December 2025 before the district's January 2026 fee sunset. Staff emphasized they prefer to seek reinstatement of the district's "maximum allowable" fee rather than commissioning a new paid study immediately; staff said a new study would add cost and time and might not be possible within the review window.

Board members asked whether the county might require a new outside study and whether the county's political composition or growth differences (compared with neighboring Fort Mill) could affect the outcome. Staff acknowledged the county has discretion on fee amounts and said the worst-case outcome might be keeping current council-approved rates. Staff said work would continue with county administration to confirm the timeline and process and that the board would be asked to vote on sending a letter and pursuing the review at the March meeting.

No formal funding vote was taken at the work session. Staff requested direction and said they will bring a bond-resolution package and impact-fee timeline back to the board for formal action in March and later in the year as needed.