Bath County board approves special election on proposed nickel tax after public opposition

The Bath County School Board voted to call a special election on a proposed nickel tax after a period of public comment that included strong opposition from petitioners.

Superintendent Mr. Evans told the board the special election would create additional bonding capacity that he estimated at about $15 million and said the district could leverage roughly $13 million in state funds if the levy is approved. "The nickel immediately eliminates these issues by providing an immediate $15,000,000 more in bonding potential for our district," he said.

The motion to call the special election was made by board member Eric and seconded by John; the board voted verbally in favor. Mr. Evans also relayed the county clerk's estimate for holding a special election as roughly $30,000 total, describing costs for ballots, supplies, poll workers and postage as the principal line items. He told the board validation of petition signatures by the clerk would trigger an election to be held no fewer than 35 and no more than 45 days after validation.

During public comment, two petition organizers urged the board not to proceed. Jenny said petitioners had collected signatures and cautioned seniors about tax impacts, saying "No such thing as free money." Another speaker questioned whether the district planned renovations or new construction at Bath County Middle School, noting the facilities paperwork appeared to show new construction while public materials emphasized renovations; that speaker also flagged increasing petition-support counts year over year and asked how the board could set a special-election date while signature validation remained pending.

Eric, speaking for the motion, acknowledged concern about future annual increases and said he supported the nickel tax to reduce long-term tax burden: "We pay less having the nickel tax now than we would in the future when taxes have to keep going up." The board did not attach conditions limiting the scope of possible projects in the resolution to call the election; project scope questions raised by petitioners were not resolved during the meeting.

Next steps: the county clerk will validate petition signatures; if validation succeeds, the special election timeline runs from that validation date and the board will proceed with the election process.