Orange County supervisors have unanimously approved spending $1,000 to secure an option on land for a new combined fire and rescue station.
A specific property has not yet been selected, but county officials want to put the station on State Route 20, between State Routes 611 and 692.
The proposed station would combine Mine Run Volunteer Fire Company with the Orange County Rescue Squad's Mine Run facility, which is staffed by volunteers and paid personnel. Officials think combining the two units at one station would provide better response times in Districts 2, 3 and 4.
Jamie Clark, director of the fire and EMS department, will apply for a stimulus grant from Homeland Security to pay for the new station. He told supervisors at a meeting Tuesday that the grant application would be enhanced if the county owned or had an option to buy land for the facility.
The deadline for the grant application is Friday. Clark said he expects to apply for about $3 million.
Also Tuesday, Finance Director Karen Karasinski told supervisors about the April sale of Virginia Public School Authority bonds to finance construction of a new middle school.
The face value of the bonds is $30.5 million, but the county will receive $32.25 million since the bonds sold at a premium. The interest rate on the bonds will fluctuate during the 20-year term but will average about 4.7 percent.
The School Board and Board of Supervisors approved spending up to $50 million to finance the new school at State Routes 20 and 601 in the northeastern corner of the county, but the cost has decreased due to the recession.
Supervisors unanimously approved the School Board carrying forward $300,000 for new school buses. The money is part of $522,000 saved by the school administration through cost-cutting in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
The school system plans to spend $800,000 for 10 buses--two of them for special-needs students. Federal stimulus money will provide about $200,000 for the special-needs buses.
The School Board had budgeted $300,000 to lease-purchase the buses. That money, combined with the carryover funds, will allow it to buy the eight regular buses outright.
Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net