The Greene County Commission's Budget & Finance Committee decided Wednesday not to vote on a resolution seeking $27 million in funding for a new high school to replace West Greene High.

It did so after hearing a presentation from Dr. Joe Parkins, the county's director of schools.

On Monday, the Education Committee, in a split vote, had decided to send a resolution with the same language to the budget committee without a recommendation.

However, the resolution that was presented to the budget committee listed as sponsor Commissioner John Waddle Jr., who represents Mosheim and the West Greene area.

County Mayor Alan Broyles said later in the meeting, "As far as I'm concerned, if the Education Committee didn't sponsor it, it's out."

However, Broyles also noted that state law allows any commissioner to bring any resolution to the county commission.

Parkins presented the resolution on Wednesday with two school board members, R.L. "Tom" Carpenter and Claude Weems Jr., both of Mosheim, seated behind him.

The director of schools said that he and six of the seven school board members, after "a lot of effort" and study, believe that building a new high school and converting the present high school into a middle school would be "what's best for the education of all of the students."

Parkins cited industrial and residential growth in the western end of the county that is expected to continue.

He also said narrow hallways at WGHS are "a potential hazard" and noted that the library is in the center of the current building, so it cannot be expanded.

A new high school also is needed to accommodate curriculum requirements, Parkins said. He said the push for a new school "is not band-driven," referring to WGHS's development of a band program.

Parkins also said inflation of the cost of construction is another factor for building the school now. He noted that the seven-year-old, 131,000-square-foot Chuckey-Doak High School was built for $13.5 million, but the proposed new 145,000-square-foot WGHS is projected to cost "twice that amount."

Parkins said he is "looking for some supplementary funding" and cited a proposal before the state legislature, sponsored by state Rep. David Hawk, R-5th, of Greeneville, that would, if passed, provide somewhere between $800,000 and $1.3 million as one source. It is not known whether the bill will pass, or whether it will be ongoing or only for one year, Parkins noted.

Parkins also said he is working on "another source of funding" that he hopes to be able to detail when the commission meets on May 19.

He estimated that passage of the resolution without additional funding would require a 27-cent property tax hike at current values, which are expected to change when the new certified tax rate changes later this month. The school director said passage of a $20 increase in the current $40 wheel tax would cut the need for a property tax hike in half.

After lunch, when discussion returned to the resolution, Commissioner Hilton Seay said that although he is "pro-education" and would "love to see a new school" in the west end of the county that he represents, "If we're depending on part of the funding to come from lottery excess funds, we need to know it will actually be there, and how much."

Commissioner John Cox said, "I'm disappointed I have to sit here and consider such an un-thought-out request against the taxpayer."

Cox, a budget member, was critical of the request in comments made immediately after Parkins' presentation. Cox said he sees the push for a new high school at West Greene as "getting close to the final stages of closing South Greene" and eventual consolidation of the county's four high schools into two, which the school board stated as a goal in 1999.

Cox briefed the committee on the history of the school board's and commission's actions at that time, including rejection of a wheel-tax increase and three commission votes on raising property taxes for the new C-DHS, all of which failed.

In December 2001, the school board sought the commission's approval of a bond for the new C-DHS to be funded with school board funds.

Cox said he could support a new C-DHS if the plans called for converting the current WGHS into a kindergarten through grade 8 school, which would take half of the 1,000-plus enrollment at Mosheim, which is about a mile away. Parkins had earlier cited crowding at Mosheim and its middle school as a factor favoring the new WGHS.

Cox said the current system, with two middle schools and 11 elementary schools in the county, creates a "convoluted" situation for sports teams that is not in the best interest of students. Sports is an important part of child development, Cox said, and while it should not be the primary consideration, "it's important we look at what we're doing."

The commissioner said he thinks that more information is needed on the proposal.

Cox also said that the Greene County Center for Technology is working with the city and the Greene County Partnership with the goal of offering an enhanced nursing and medical "career path" that might have a significant impact on WGHS's enrollment.

Carpenter said Greene County may not have enough population to support such a program.

Commissioner Hilton Seay asked where students who complete the eighth-grade at Glenwood Elementary School go to high school.

Parkins replied that for the past four years, students in that area have had their choice between West Greene and South Greene, and buses have taken students from the Glenwood area to both high schools.

Seay asked if, at one time, buses did not go to West Greene from Glenwood. Parkins said he could not recall, but several in the room said that had indeed been the case.

At that point, County Mayor Alan Broyles, who chairs the budget committee, made what he called a recommendation. "Right now, it's too premature for the Budget & Finance Committee to act," he said.

Broyles said the county is unsure about how much state "shared" funds will be cut, though state officials including the governor have said cuts will be made.

In addition, Broyles said, "We haven't dug into the budget" for next year in enough detail to have confidence about the county's ability to take on additional debt.

When the subject came up again later in the four-hour-plus meeting, Broyles said the Education Debt Service fund, which covers school needs, is obligated with $39 million in debt now, and the county government's total debt is about $53 million.

Since the resolution "does have sponsors," Broyles said, perhaps the resolution needs to be referred directly to the Greene County Commission.

Commissioner Bill Dabbs then asked, "Let's see what the sponsor has to say."

Commissioner Waddle said he noticed that, while Cox preferred using the existing WGHS as a K-8 school, "He never once said we didn't need a new school."

Waddle said every school in the county system is at 85 percent of its capacity or above, and West Greene is at 126 percent of its capacity.

Waddle also said a wheel tax is increase is unlikely to pass because only 29 percent of Greene County residents are property owners, and half of them would not vote for a wheel tax that would make their property taxes lower.

Parkins said he believed he had responded to all of Cox's comments at the Education Committee's meeting. He also said there is "no intent for the (county school)board to move toward two high schools," though he also said there is no way of knowing what future school boards or future directors of schools will want to do.