On a shadeless Black Hill Road field just outside Bryson City, a crowd gathered Oct. 29 for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Swain County Middle School.
The building is expected to be done in August 2028 for the start of the academic year. While all speakers spoke highly of the project, that energy isn’t necessarily shared by everyone. Some express tentative, measured optimism. Others are worried about the inevitability of a shortfall.
Architecture company LS3P has been contracted to design the campus. According to Principal, Vice President, and K12 Market Leader Emily Kite, the finished facility — a single building, unlike the current middle school — will include 100,000 square feet of academic and athletic space. But kids will be able to enjoy the fresh air.
“At the same time, we kept the building footprint compact to preserve green space and fields so students can get outside to learn and play in this beautiful place,” said Kite.
The school will have 18 core classrooms with others dedicated to the exceptional children’s program, career, arts, and STEM exploration. It will also feature a Blue Ridge Health clinic and a gymnasium that seats 750 spectators. But Kite said the statistics don’t capture why the project is so special.
“It’s hard to put into words how beautiful it will be,” she said. “The mountain views from the media center and third-floor classrooms, the maroon devil pride that students and teachers will feel when they walk through the doors, and the murals that will tell the story of Swain Middle School and the legacy of the existing campus that served this community for almost 100 years.”
Southeast commercial general contractor Vannoy Construction will build the facility with a team that includes many Swain County Schools alumni, Superintendent Brandon Sutton told the audience during the ceremony.
“Numerous graduates from Swain County High School are working on this project — former students returning to build the future for the next generation. That means this $54.6 million investment isn’t just funding a brand-new school; it is directly supporting our local workforce, benefiting our local families, and boosting the economy right here in Swain County,” he said.
Sutton on Oct. 20 told county commissioners project costs are $54,817,000, exceeding its $54.6 million construction budget by $217,000. But he cited $1.9 million in contingencies, or funding reserves and a $1.7 million furniture allowance that could be reappropriated to balance expenses.
But Bryson City Alderman Tim Hines isn’t as confident.
“Clearly, there some aspects of the project are going to go over. Will the contingency cover all of that? I have my doubts,” he said, adding that his perspective has been informed by rarely seeing projects come in under budget.
Hines said he’s not sure what the standard might be for construction, but in his career, “if we do a technology project, to be safe, if we’re planning a year out, we do a 10% contingency.”
A $1.9 million contingency fund is a little less than 4%. Plus, said Hines, the district has already had to scale back its initial vision.
“There was going to be an outdoor classroom … So that’s already been cut out,” he explained, adding that he expects to see more of the same as the project unfolds.
This is partly because it’s hard to predict what material pricing might look like over the next few years. Hines described pipe costs as “outrageous” after Hurricane Helene but said they have started to level out. He said school leaders hope to save by using pre-cast concrete pieces, but transportation costs have risen significantly since the district set that part of the budget. Since the construction shortfall was calculated “many months” ago, he explained, even today’s financial landscape is likely different.
Of the $54.6 million construction budget, the county is funding $2.6 million as part of a local matching requirement. The remaining $52 million — the maximum statutory amount the grant will fund for a new middle school, increased from $50 million in FY 2023-2024 — comes from the NC Lottery Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund.
Since the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund grant program began in 2017, it has received 755 applications and funded only 87. When Swain County secured the grant alongside six other counties in Fiscal Year 2024-2025, it was one of 122 applicants. School systems across North Carolina currently face a total capital project backlog of $10 billion.
Meanwhile, Swain County Schools projects a $1.3 million revenue decrease this year due to declining enrollment. Costs are increasingly inflated — and for a rural district that relies heavily on state and federal funding, income and corporate tax cuts could put that number in freefall.
Beyond construction
The middle school, like the high school, will be accessed through Fontana Road, likely to create a backlog if patterns aren’t addressed. But it appears these logistical concerns have already been accounted for.
The N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) works closely with public school systems to determine and evaluate transportation impacts when new or expanded structures are built. By state law, the agency reviews district traffic studies and reimburses the costs of certain identified improvements. Swain County is no exception.
According to Division 14 District Engineer Cody Weddle, “(NCDOT) recommended installation of a dedicated northbound left-turn lane on Fontana Road at the school’s primary entrance to accommodate projected traffic operations and improve access to the site.” He added that this project will co-occur with construction.
Sutton said the lane will serve parent drop-off and community parking in front of the campus. The other entrance will handle bus and employee traffic.
“Buses will pass through campus and come in on the back side, and there’ll be parking for buses and staff and faculty that’s gated on the backside of the campus,” he explained.
Utilities also originally posed roadblocks. Bryson City’s infrastructure necessitates upgrades to house a brand-new facility as large as a middle school. And there was the question of water storage.
Luckily, a $3 million Housing and Urban Development grant Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) secured earlier this year will help fund these developments. Edwards was formally censured by Congress Sept. 1 after a House Ethics Panel report found significant evidence that he’d sexually harassed two former staffers. He nonetheless appeared at the event, beginning with a joke about congressional politics.
“I’ve got to reflect on a memory when we’re standing up here at the shovels a while ago, we were all standing there with a shovel, and someone said, ‘Okay, what’s supposed to happen now?’ And someone else said, ‘Well, I think we’re supposed to throw dirt.”’ Edwards recounted. “Well, there, for a fleeting moment, I thought I was back in Washington, D.C., because that’s what we do best in Washington, D.C., is to throw dirt.”
He said that while Washington discusses national and international issues, like “bombs dropping a half a world away,” small communities like Swain have “real people … with real needs.”
Project partners have access to the $3 million grant with help from Southwestern Commission, an economic development resource for local governments west of Asheville. Bryson City Town Engineer Nate Bowe described prerequisites that must be met before that grant money becomes available.
“There’s a short application process that has to be performed, and environmental scoping,” he said, finding it difficult to predict a step-by-step timeline.
But according to Kite, timeliness shouldn’t be an issue.
“We’re designing what to do so that we can get that part of the construction to happen concurrent with the [school] construction,” she said.
She also told The Smoky Mountain News that, thanks to the grant money, previous issues have since been mitigated. The school will store firewater onsite, and Bryson City is planning to improve its sewer system.
Though the new middle school is a county project, the town has played an outsized role in the infrastructure process — and will likely benefit, according to Sutton.
The Local Government Coalition publishes an annual Unit Assistance List (UAL) based on the previous year’s audited budget. Generally, governments are listed if concerns exist about the General Fund, water and sewer operations, or internal controls. Bryson City made the most recent UAL because of the second issue.
Sutton said Bryson City must upgrade a section of sewer lines to 12-inch pipe to accommodate the middle school, which is also good news for its system.
The Black Hill Road building will also be across the river from the town’s wastewater treatment plant, unlike the old middle school, which calls for a new circulation strategy.
“I have a pump station that pumps the sewer underneath of the river over to the plant, and we had a big concern about that. But the town has secured a separate funding award that’s going to allow for us to replace that pumping station with a new one that is capable of handling the middle school,” Bowe explained.
He said infrastructure plans are under review. Meanwhile, he’s counting on a small amount of extra grant funding. Given the town’s small customer base, he is always looking for ways to keep rates as low as possible.
Hines noted that water and sewer got going after other stakeholders finally listened to the town, which had said all along it lacked the finances to pay for any improvements.
Bowe explained what this means in material terms.
“We have to go to the Local Government Commission for any kind of borrowing and have to prove financially that we can absorb debt service and make payments on debt,” he said.
Although the HUD grant seemed to solve the funding dispute, these utility buildouts could still require future county money.
Addressing commissioners last month, Sutton said utility costs will likely create a $300,000 shortfall, citing bids of $1.9 million and $1.2 million, respectively, for the line extension and fire suppression tank. When speaking to SMN, Sutton clarified those numbers were a bit higher — $1.98 million and $1.26 million — totaling about $3.3 million after accounting for $50,000 already spent on surveying.
Still, he said the district was well-prepared with $1.9 million of contingency funding.
But Hines was worried about what might happen if those reserves ran out.
“Let’s say worst-case scenario, you use up your contingency. Well, then you start looking: Where’s the rest of the money going to come from?” he explained, adding that pulling from county and district fund balances — both of which have weathered increasing costs and declining revenues — would likely be the only options.
Bowe said the water and sewer implementation plan is comprehensive on all fronts, though it’s impossible to guarantee only smooth sailing.
Hines didn’t dispute the project’s thoroughness; he thought it didn’t mitigate the main issue.
“They have a plan. Funding the plan is still the question mark for me,” he said.