Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GHS baseball diamond to get lights installed

Gurdon High School's baseball field will be undergoing some work over the summer, including the addition of lights to the field. The decision to award the contracts for the work was among the items considered by the Gurdon School Board during it's regular monthly meeting on June 15.

The board had a lengthy agenda, due in part to a cancelled board meeting in May when a quorum was not established.

Gurdon Superintendent Bobby Smithson told the board the district is collecting some additional money that was not expected and said that money should cover the cost of the additions to the baseball field.

The plan is to install bleachers and lights for the field. Smithson said he the baseball team currently plays in the early afternoon, meaning that parents who work cannot attend the games. The lights would offer the ability to play evening games.

Contracts will be awarded to Nantze Electric of Texarkana for $72,000 for the lighting and to Eastman's Construction for $16,200 for the concrete work. Other bidders included Pilgreen Electric of Gurdon and KAJ of Hampton.

Smithson said some of the work can be accomplished by the district. The plan includes a press box and a cover for the bleachers but Smithson said both could be put off until later.

The softball field will likely be a future project, Smithson said.

The district will likely finish the year in the black, Smithson said. Smithson said a significant collection of back taxes garnered about $70,000 for the district. He said he was told by the county tax collector that a local company had been sold and the new owners had paid the back taxes. Other local revenues, including the district's pullback and savings from reissue of a bond, and almost $10,000 in state money were not included in the year's budget.

Smithson said the district can expect some additional money for the 2004-2005 school year as well. The majority of that money is a result of increased assessment values for the year.

The county assesses property values and the property owners pay taxes based on that assessment. The majority of the property tax goes to support schools.

Smithson said property assessments in the district increased by $2.4 million, which will increase the district's annual revenue for next year by about $80,000.

"This is unheard of in our district," Smithson said. "We've got revenue we didn't expect. I think we're going to have a very pleasant job, deciding where to spend money this year."

The news was not all good and Smithson also listed some unexpected expenditures for the 2003-2004 school year. One of the biggest was the cost of "bailing out" the high school activities, including the football program. According to the district's financial report, the high school activities are $26,252 in arrears. The high school activities section of the report indicates the football program has a current balance of negative $13,460. Smithson said the total loss of the program this year was more than $17,000.

"We're going to bail them out," Smithson said.

Smithson said the board will have to make a decision about the football program for the coming year. He said the options are to go up on admission or simply budget the money to fund the program.

"I don't think it's possible to make it self-supporting," he said.

He pointed out that there are usually four or five home games. Each would have to raise several thousand additional dollars to completely fund the program.

Smithson said there are other schools that charge more for admission but said he was concerned that it would create a hardship for families with several children.

In other business, the board voted to approve handbooks for the coming year, approved the resignation of girls basketball coach Mike McKenzie and teachers Rusty and Carrie Roe, and approved transfers within the district. Smithson said there are several vacancies to fill and interviews were planned for early this week.