JACKSON MAKES PLANS TO ANNEX NEW SCHOOL

JACKSON -- Annexation of the new south-side elementary school would mean a more efficient sewage system and better fire protection for the school and more utility customers for the city, officials say.

Superintendent Dr. Howard Jones and the Jackson Board of Aldermen city board have been discussing the annexation since before the $7.8 million capital improvement bond financing the school was passed. The board will publicly discuss the issue tonight for the first time and is expected to set a public hearing for Dec. 16.

The new 44,500-square-foot school is part of a capital improvement plan that includes a math and science building on the high school campus. The south-side school will accommodate 450 students, relieve overcrowding in the other elementary schools and provide all-day kindergarten.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said the annexation benefits both the school and the city.

"It's important for the city and schools to all work together," Sander said. "The school won't generate a lot of new tax revenue but it will use electricity and the sewer system.

"Plus the school will have the advantage of being on the city water systems. With our water lines and our fire hydrants right there I'm sure they'll pay a lot less in insurance."

The city, which operates both the electric and sewer utilities, is going to run sewer lines out to Grand View Acres subdivision south of the school after taking bids on the project. School officials want the city to annex the property now so it can hook up to these lines.

Jones said the up-front cost of hooking onto the sewer lines is more expensive than some forms of sewage treatment but that the school will benefit in the long run.

"The school will be designed to eventually hold 600 students," he said. "We need to be able to handle that capacity and the demands that 600 students will put on a sewage system."

Schools used to construct a lagoon in the far reaches of their property where sewage was piped and treated. Jones said that kind of system is not environmentally sound and has a tendency to back up.

He said the school's biggest return from the annexation will be the police and fire protection.

John Dudley, the project's architect, said there won't be a considerable savings in money for the school system by annexing into the city, but the benefits will come through in other ways.

"We're planning around the school becoming a part of the city of Jackson," Dudley said. "If it is annexed it will allow the school to hook onto the city's sewer system, it will provide for fire protection and water service."

The school system would be responsible for laying the pipes that would run out to the Grand View Acres sewer line. Dudley said rural schools are at a disadvantage because constructing dedicated sewer systems for those schools is expensive.

"They're definitely not getting a free sewer system," Sander said. "But it would certainly be cheaper for them than running a line all the way from town."

"The timing of these two projects is crucial, though," Dudley said of the south-side school and Grand View Acres' sewer line. "The elementary school is scheduled to open in August 1998. Obviously the sewer line has to be placed before then.

"I mean we could construct the school without the sewer line but we couldn't open it until it was hooked on."