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Monday, March 5, 2007
Counties To Schools: Build Your Own Roads
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Responsibility for building roads, installing traffic lights and taking care of other infrastructure needs, such as bridges and sidewalks, could shift to local school systems under a proposal before the state Legislature.
Metro Atlanta school systems are building schools as fast as they can open them, but some county commissioners apparently are tired of paying for the necessary roadwork around those campuses. So state Rep. Martin Scott (R-Rossville) has sponsored a bill that lets county governments off the hook for those infrastructure needs.
The measure could sink the upcoming SPLOST elections in some of Georgia’s largest school districts. Fulton, DeKalb and Atlanta all are seeking an extension of the 1 percent local sales tax for schools. But it’s unlikely they’ve all budgeted for roadwork in their proposals.
Regardless of whose budget the money comes from, local taxpayers ultimately foot the bill. So I’m wondering if there’s a larger problem here that’s being overlooked. That is, shouldn’t someone in the Legislature consider alleviating the development that’s forcing systems to build new schools in the first place?
