CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors voted to have a discussion with the community to raise real estate taxes to fund school resource officers in all 11 elementary schools.
“In the world, or all over the country, there is no guarantee if the next bad guy or girl is going to head for a high school when we have all these soft targets in the elementary school,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Hank Partin.
The proposed 1.5 cent tax increase totals to about an additional $30.00 a year for a $200,000 home and brings the real estate tax to 90.5 cents. This would fund four to eight resource officer positions.
Members of the school board tell 10 News the increase is necessary given the recent school threats around the country.
“It’s going to take a lot of time and money to make those changes in our school,” said Vice Chair of Montgomery County School Board Connie Froggatt. “In the meantime, putting a resource officer there and having a trained professional who knows how to react in a situation is the solution we need for now.”
The additional funds would not all go toward funding the proposed additional resource officers.
“There is discussion about hiring additional teachers and we are expecting 50 more students than last year,” said Board of Supervisor for District A Sara Bohn. “Also, we are looking at additional staff for our county and broadband expansion was discussed for the one and a half cent increase.”