By Lee Weyhrich
The Pinson City Council on Thursday authorized the purchase of the Old Rock School for $875,000.
The total purchase price is $325,000 less than the original asking price of $1.2 million and $15,000 more than Solid Rock Church originally paid for the building and Triangle Park in 2004.
The deal is contingent on Solid Rock Church’s success in purchasing the New Covenant Fellowship Church property on Alabama Highway 79. The deal is also contingent on the city’s ability to qualify for a loan.
Mayor Hoyt Sanders believes the city could easily afford the $60,000 per year in estimated payments on a loan for this amount. The council’s budget has already proven capable of this amount of annual extra expenditure. The council will have to vote at a later meeting on how to finance the purchase.
“(We have) some budget items that will not recur,” Sanders said
. “We could handle that payment at the current interest rate.”
According to www.solidrockchurch.com, parts of the Old Rock School date back to 1921. The school building was closed down in 1998 and was scheduled to be torn down. The website says that Pinson residents saved the building from demolition and in 2003 Solid Rock Church leased the property. The church’s first service in the building was Sept. 26, 2004.