Forsyth County residents may be asked later this year to support a $40 million bond issue for a new Central Library, but they may not get to use the existing library as much as they have in the past.
A tight budget in 2010-11 could force the county to cut back library hours and other so-called less essential areas of county government.
County officials told the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners during a planning retreat yesterday that the county is facing several tough budget years in a row in the face of stagnant revenues and state cutbacks.
Just where the local cuts will come from was not clear -- and won't be until county officials get closer to seeing how county finances will shape up for the 2010-11 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
A majority of the commissioners, nonetheless, favors a bond referendum to raise money for a new Central Library in downtown Winston-Salem, and another referendum on $30 million in bonds to move SciWorks downtown from Hanes Mill Road.
A third bond request -- to tackle school technology needs -- could also appear on the ballot this fall.
Commissioner Dave Plyler, the board's chairman, said that it makes sense to have a library- bond vote now, despite tight county finances.
"If it is approved we are several years out from getting started with it," Plyler said.
"We have said ‘no' to the library since 1990. The voters have never been allowed to say yes or no."
County officials say that the weak economy also means good construction prices -- and jobs for local construction workers.
Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt blasted the bond-referendum plans, even accusing its promoters of adding the schools to the bond list to help the library and science-center bonds pass.
She vowed to work against the bond issue.
"It is like someone has gone to a candy store and gotten every piece of candy they could get," Whisenhunt said.
Commissioner Debra Conrad said she is also not in favor of a November bond vote because county officials are saying "what dire times we are in" with the county budget.
Besides Plyler, Commissioners Ted Kaplan, Walter Marshall and Beaufort Bailey have supported moving forward with a bond referendum.
Marshall said yesterday that in the end, it would be up to the voters to choose whether to back the bonds.
Kaplan said that if the library and SciWorks bonds pass, the county would pursue acquiring the Winston-Salem Journal's building and parking lot downtown, with the science center rising on the parking lot and connected to the Benton Convention Center and library by aerial walkways.
Jimmy Flythe, the chairman of the SciWorks board, said that his board backs the county proposal, although "it is a long way from fruition."
SciWorks is an independent, nonprofit organization, although it occupies county property and gets financial support from the county.
Journal publisher Mike Miller said he has heard nothing from county officials since the idea of the county buying the building surfaced last year.
"It is up to them to come up with the figure that we have given to them," Miller said. "They have not come back to us. We haven't gotten any kind of proposal."
He declined to state the asking price for the Journal site.
The library and school bonds, if passed, would add 1.3 to 1.4 cents to the county's tax rate of 67.4 cents for every $100 of property value.
That means the county tax on a $150,000 house would rise from $1,011 to $1,032, assuming a 1.4-cent increase.
wyoung@wsjournal.com
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