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Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Johns Creek backs sales tax for schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Johns Creek City Council is supporting a proposed Fulton County School District one percent sales tax to pay for new schools and related projects.
“Schools are the backbone of our community and keeping them strong benefits our entire city. [The sales tax] has actually helped to lower our property taxes,” City Council Member Liz Hausmann said in a prepared statement. “The cost of school construction does not rest solely on Fulton County property taxpayers with [sales tax].”
Hausmann is a former school board member, and headed a City Council committee to study whether the city should back the sales tax. The council recently approved a resolution backing the sales tax, called a Special Local Option Sales Tax.
Voters will go to the polls on March 20 to decide whether to extend the sales tax for another five years. The money would be used for additional classroom space and technology, which would allow general funds to be used in classrooms.
In Johns Creek, the sales tax revenues would pay for improvements at each elementary, middle and high school as well as a new $60 million-plus high school. According to Fulton County Schools, more than 20,000 new students enrolled over the past 10 years, and an additional 19,000 students are expected by 2012.
Voters first approved the sales tax for schools in 1997 and then extended it in 2002. Over the last 10 years, almost $1 billion in revenue has been raised, with an estimated 40 percent coming from people who live outside of Fulton County.
Locally, sales tax money built Abbotts Hill Elementary School, Findley Oaks Elementary School, Ocee Elementary School, Wilson Creek Elementary School, Autrey Mill Middle School, River Trail Middle School and Northview High School.
“In a nutshell, [the sales tax] is fiscally responsible,” Hausmann said. “It’s a tax for a finite period of time and the funds must be spent on the items listed in the referendum.”
For more information, visit www.fultonschools.org
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Milton backs Fulton schools sales tax renewal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Milton City Council has endorsed renewing the Fulton County School District’s proposed one-percent sales tax to build and equip schools.
Mayor Joe Lockwood said the sales tax is preferable to property tax.
“I’m supportive of good schools,” he said. “I think that’s what makes where we live attractive, and this is a way to pay for needed schools and additions. Sales tax revenue doesn’t just come from our tax base. Lots of it comes from out of the county.”
Voters go to the polls March 20 to determine if the so-called the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, should be continued for another five years. The tax was first approved by voters in March 1997 and renewed in March 2002. It has raised almost $1 billion in revenue for capital improvements. About 40 percent of the tax is paid by people who live outside of Fulton County.
Sales tax money has paid for 29 new schools including four inside the City of Milton - Cogburn Woods and Summit Hill elementary schools, Hopewell Middle School and Milton High School. It has also financed additions at 18 other schools, including a science addition at Crabapple Middle School.
The new sales tax would pay for 14 new schools and classroom additions at 11 schools, as well as pay for technology updates, equipment and bus purchases, and debt relief.
For more information on the sales tax, visit the Fulton County Schools Web site at www.fultonschools.org.
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