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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tax Dollars, Land Deals And School Board Secrets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How would you like a large developer to purchase property in your neighborhood without knowing until after the deal was done?
Well, that’s just what Gwinnett County Board of Education members have been doing for more than 30 years as they use tax dollars to buy up acreage for new schools.
According to today’s story by Gwinnett education reporter Laura Diamond, in just the past year the school system has spent $39.8 million on 130.6 acres of land for future public schools — all in secret deals that weren’t revealed until well after ink on the sales contracts dried.
Carole Boyce, the vice chairwoman of Gwinnett’s education board, told Laura the school system gets better deals when negotiating without community involvement.
“We do value public input but we don’t want to slow the process down,” she said. “The longer we wait, the more prices go up. We are very cognizant of trying to get the best piece of property at the best price. We need a lot of land and we need it quickly.”
Apparently, other local governments don’t have the same problem. County commissioners in Cobb, Cherokee, Clayton, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton — even Gwinnett — all vote in public when they buy land.
So you tell me: Are closed-door land deals really the best negotiating strategy for local school systems or are they just a sign of arrogance on the part of elected officials?
