First off, you gave a lot of questions there without answers, outside of saying Richmond paying [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

In seriousnes though, its an issue that affects all, not just Wise County, but Dickenson County, Scott County, Lee County, city of Norton, etc etc. Yes Wise is affected the most, clearly.

That being said, there is never going to be a money tree that just gives money away. There may never be a good time to just do it. It's the nature of people, politicians and government as a whole, if they have an extra million sitting around, most of the time it gets spent on something that has been a wish list item or such for awhile.

How many on here can afford to pay extra? Well thats an issue no matter if you get new schools, renovate or try to pretend there is no problem and just hope things stay status quo. Make no mistake, there is going to have to be a large sum of money borrowed, lent, receieved due to some quirk of the cosmos (flood relief as Dickenson is trying for) or something. Even if you don't consolidate, build new schools or anything, the old ones are still going to need major maintenance, so money is always gonna be an issue, the question becomes do you throw away money on something that isn't going to be that much better off, or do you try to take a bit hit now and spread the cost out over years and actually have gains.

If you drive a 1950 car, you know that you're driving on borrowed time. You can repair it, you can probably can keep it running, but it becomes a question of reliability, cost for items to keep it running. If its cost you a couple thousand dollars a year or more to keep it running, when do decide that you would have a greater benefit buyin you a new car that at least you can count on and might have some added features like air conditioning [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] There is no easy solution, and no matter how long you wait or how many meetings, how many committees and sub-committee and citizens groups and protests and petitions and such the issue doesnt disappear. Everything gets more expensive and the longer you wait, the greater the expense. We live in a world that costs tend to not fall, no matter how much Walmart tries to convince you otherwise.