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Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

Peach voters to decide on ELOST renewal

Peach County voters will decide Tuesday whether to renew a 1 percent education local option sales tax for another five years.

If the ELOST is renewed, it would fund $21 million worth of projects throughout the county’s schools.

While Byron residents will not vote in a general election, which was canceled when all its candidates ran unopposed, they are still eligible to vote on the tax, said Michelle Riley, elections supervisor with the Board of Elections and Registration in Peach County.

The largest single item on the ELOST list is $13.2 million to pay off the principal and interest on Series 2008 A and 2008 B bonds from previous projects.

Also among the projects are 10 air conditioning units and controls for Peach County High School, Byron Elementary School and Fort Valley Middle School at the cost of $1.2 million.

For $2.5 million, the board of education seeks to continue technology upgrades such as cabling, Smart Boards and video distribution equipment in the schools.

Other projects would include a number of improvements to Peach County High School, such as renovations to the school’s track, a tennis court, restrooms, dressing rooms and concession stands for the soccer field and between the track and tennis courts.

Passed in 2005, the current ELOST will be in effect until September 2010, Superintendent Susan Clark wrote in an e-mail.

Clark could not be directly contacted for comment on the matter.

If the ELOST is not passed, Peach County officials will need to raise property taxes to raise the revenue for the projects, said Sara Mason, community/parent liaison for Peach County schools.

While members of the board of education are not allowed to campaign for the ELOST, grass-roots organization Citizens for Public Education is encouraging voters to renew the tax though local advertisements and word of mouth.

Citizens for Public Education was created in 2004, before the current ELOST was passed, said B.J. Walker, a member of the group. His father, Jimmy, is the group’s chairman.

“A lot of people involved feel it’s a fairer way to provide money toward education,” B.J. Walker said.

The county generates about 40 percent of its sales taxes from passers-by on Interstate 75, he said, who feels renewing the ELOST would help keep the community’s schools competitive with those in Bibb and Houston counties.

“It relieves some of the burden on Peach County,” he said.

Walker said he believes that having to raise property taxes if the ELOST is not renewed would have a negative impact on the community.

“It’s bad for business. It’s bad for growth,” he said. “(The ELOST is) a lot better way to pay for that.”

To contact writer Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.