King Takes Millage Questions at Kingsland

KINGLSAND - Supporters and opponents both voiced their opinions during the Cleveland County School District's final community meeting on the proposed 6-mill tax increase Monday night at the Kingsland School auditorium. If approved, the new tax would generate about $12 million to support construction of a new gym at the Rison campus.Attendance was similar to the other two meetings held at New Edinburg and Rison with about 50 people taking in the digital slide presentation from Superintendent Davy King followed by a question-and-answer session.King told the audience that the purpose of the meeting was for information purposes only and not to sway votes, though he added he hoped they would support the millage increase.In addition to King, five of the seven Cleveland County School Board members were at the meeting: Nick Bennett, Helen Grice, William King, Kelly Taylor and Sheila Towery.The millage is expected support construction a new gym that will seat an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 people and will be equipped with air conditioning and heating. The existing gym has no air conditioning.It was explained that architect Steve Elliott has estimated the cost to build the new gym to be between $10.5 and $12 million. There was a question from the audience about why it needed that many seats, and board member William King explained that was as small a footprint as the architect could go since the four locker rooms will be built beneath the bleachers. Board member Helen Grice also pointed out that reducing the size to about an 800-person capacity would have only reduced the price by about $1 million.King also noted during his presentation the gym will be used as a multi-purpose facility as well for school assemblies, concerts, graduation and even community events.In regards to the funding, King said the district could also receive $2.7 million in state partnership money to support the project. He explained that the state sets asi...