ESPLOST passes

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Tucker Eastwood, who will be 2 in a couple of weeks, hands Amanda Gillean, a poll worker at the City Park Elementary precinct, a ballot for his mom, Rachel, on Tuesday afternoon. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)

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August 1, 2012

ESPLOST passes

Education tax gets nod but closer than before

Rachel Brown rachelbrown@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Sat Aug 11, 2012, 09:35 AM EDT

Precinct by precinct results

On an Election Day in which a proposed regional sales tax for transportation was soundly defeated, a similar kind of tax for local schools found a majority vote.

With all precincts reporting, unofficial results show some 53.69 percent, or 6,095, voted for a 1 percent education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) set to generate up to $105 million over five years. Another 5,257 voters, or 46.31 percent, said “no.” The tax authorizes Whitfield County Schools to receive up to $68.65 million, while Dalton Public Schools can receive up to $36.35 million.

County school officials have said they’ll use their funding to pay back about $36 million in debt from previous school projects when they — with voter approval — borrowed more money than they could pay back during the last ESPLOST. They’ll use the rest of the money on a list of smaller improvements, such as new air conditioning and heating units and sewer improvements, at several schools.

City school officials have said they’ll use their funding to expand Dalton Middle School and Morris Innovative High School. They also have a list of smaller projects to improve several other school buildings.

Mike Maret, chairman of a committee called Citizens for a Smart ESPLOST, said the vote shows area residents “realize the education ESPLOST is the smart way to fund education” so that non-residents and visitors can help pay for expenses, too.

“We were expecting it to be very close just because of the fact that the TSPLOST (transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) is on the ballot, and there’s also a lot of anti-tax sentiment out there in the nation right now,” he said. “That’s one thing we wanted to do was to distinguish between the TSPLOST and the ESPLOST.”

Voters have historically been receptive to the ESPLOST. In 2001, they approved continuing the five-year tax that began in 1997 for another five years. In 2006, they approved the 1 percent tax by a 3-1 margin. Board of Education members in both school districts let the tax lapse for several months after it expired in December, saying they wanted to give an area with the state’s highest unemployment rate and a sagging economy a chance to recover.

Yet they said Whitfield County and Dalton are two of only a handful of school districts in the entire state that don’t have an ESPLOST.

“We appreciate the wisdom of Whitfield County voters and the grassroots support from everyone involved with the Citizens for a Smart ESPLOST,” said Danny Hayes, superintendent of Whitfield County Schools. “They understand that investing in high-quality public education is the backbone of our community for existing residents as well as future families and businesses that will choose to live in this area.”

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ESPLOST passes

Education tax gets nod but closer than before

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