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School District Paid $52,000 In Power Bills On Building Leased By New Life Church
August 15, 2008
The Escambia County School District has paid over $52,000 in power bills on the old Century High School building since it was leased to the New Life Baptist Church. That is in addition to thousands paid for water, sewer and gas used in the building.
NorthEscambia.com first broke the story that New Life had never paid utility bills since moving into the building. The school district paid over $60,000 in water, gas and sewer bills for the old Century High building occupied for New Life, as we first reported last week.
In an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com, Rev. Irvin Stallworth of New Life Baptist acknowledged that his church had never paid a power bill for the building either.
According to Gulf Power bills, a total of $52,338.07 has been paid by the school district since New Life moved into the building in 2004. New Life pays $1 per year for their lease on the building.
The power bills do not include the former high school’s gym or the stadium; those are on a different meter.
Stallworth refused to make further comment on the issue Thursday night.
On August 7, Stallworth said “The taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going. We are willing to do what we need to do to make restitution for what we owe.”
He blamed the confusion on the fact that his church was moving into the building at the same time the school district was moving out of the building…the same time Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast. He said his church immediately went into a reaction mode after Ivan, working to provide aid and relief for the community. As that relief effort was beginning to wind down, Hurricane Dennis then hit the area, sending the church back into a reactionary mode.
“With all the things that were going on post-Dennis,” Stallworth said, “we did not realize that we were not receiving any bills.”
He said he realized that the church was to be paying the utility bills per the lease, which had signed, but the trustee responsible for paying the bills did not know that fact.
To read more on last week’s interview with Stallworth, click here.
To read more about the water, gas and sewer bills on the New Life building, click here.
Comments
11 Responses to “School District Paid $52,000 In Power Bills On Building Leased By New Life Church”
Why isn’t the District 5 School Board Member ( Mr. Gindl) looking into this issue?
This is Election time!
Who is maintaining the building and equipment at the Old Site? Is School District personal still maintaning the equipment? Surely not, understanding that it is a leased Building? I think someone should check the records to make sure this isn’t happing…..
Shaun,
That again would be considered stealing, Cut it anyway you like receiving something for well over four years and not paying for it is STEALING………
Ok I understand it was a lot of money as well as understand the Church should have knew they weren’t paying utilities. BUT if you moved out of your home or apartment or whatever, and left your electricity on and someone else move in right away. After the first month of receiving a utility bill for the residence you dont reside no more, would you keep paying it or get it corrected?
Tax payer, I disagree with you just a little about this being simply an over-sight…
What happen here has to be Illegal. The School District/ Church Heads allowed this to happen for way to long…from the Look of things one might come to the conclusion all of this was agreed upon by both sides….Thanks to Mr. Barns for stepping forward because this would have continued until who knows when.
Keep digging Northescambia, more will surface.
It is sad that this mistake or oversight or whatever New Life is calling this situation makes Christians look bad. As a Christ-follower, I don’t want this situation to affect what other people in the community think of my church. How can we reach people who don’t know Jesus if they are under the impression that we are ALL a bunch of underhanded crooks? Christians need to realize the long-term affects of the choices they make. People are always looking at Christians to see how they act-if their actions line up with what they say they believe. This situation is very detrimental to non-believer’s perception of Christians.
New Life needs to make restitution. If they weren’t paying the utilities, then they should have money available to pay the bills they owe. I’m sure they receive tithes and I know they also have received money in rent in the past when they allowed others to use their facilities for different activites, such as baton lessons. New Life needs to follow the instructions of Romans 13:7-8, and pay the debt that they owe.
This looks like a Bigtime cover-up from Both Sides. The School Board has to find out “WHO” is in charge of over-seeing the Closer of School District property. Then like there employees, they need to be held accountable!
No, Shaun, we should not just forget about it.
Of course there is a degree of fault to be laid on the school board; however, the church is ultimately responsible. They had to be aware of it, no matter what they claim now. The money paid out for these utilities rightly belongs to the school system to further educate the children of our county. Just think about it – if Century/Carver had even 1/4 of that money, what could be accomplished to improve that school? New Life NEEDS to be held accountable. If they truly follow biblical teaching and principals, then they cannot deny that they need to repay ALL the money. To not do so would prove that they don’t live what they preach/teach.
You have got to be kidding me…
“”"Obviously its no ones fault so lets just forget about it.”"”
Really should the Tax payer’s just forget this HUGE turn your head type over-sight..I mean we are talking about $ 112,338.07 that should have been used to Educate the Children of Escambia County…..Never should have happened..mis-management from the top down!!!!!!!!!!
Something is very WRONG here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carry on Citizens…
They had to know they were not paying utility bills. I mean you could miss a month or two but then you would have to wonder where your bill is and why it is not past due. They need to make restitution, and the bookkeeping system needs monitoring from both places.
Seriously do we have to keep seeing this in the news? Obviously its no ones fault so lets just forget about it. I mean the school board should have caught it if they were paying utilities at a school that was no longer a school dont you think. Get on with some different news!