During the work session before last week’s Guntersville City Council meeting, Councilman Randy Whitaker raised some concerns about the county's new school sales tax money going strictly toward brick and mortar school buildings.
The County Commission last fall passed a new countywide one-cent sales tax for schools. The proceeds will be divided among the county's school system based on enrollment. The big winners are the county system and the Albertville system, since they have more students than anyone else.
Guntersville is a loser in the deal, since it will contribute far more than it gets back in return. Still, Councilman Whitaker wants the "new" tax money to have some restrictions on it, namely that it go to construction.
“I think it’s important that the School Board reports back to the Council how they’re going to spend that money,” Councilman Whitaker told the Council. “It should be earmarked. The reason and the reason I say that is because I’ve been on the Council long enough to build two new schools. Every time we build a school, there’s no money in the school fund for building. We’ve got it for everything else, but we don’t have it for brick and mortar. I think it needs to be put in brick and mortar with no exceptions. I would like you to ask the School Board to report to us as far as how they’re planning on spending it. I think the taxpayers ought to know.”
Mayor Leigh Dollar agreed to ask the Guntersville City School Board to report their spending of the tax dollars to the Council, but she said she doesn’t think the Council wields the authority to restrict the tax.
“I understand,” Councilman Whitaker countered. “But we have a lot of other authority. I’m just saying, I looked at the last report… they just gave the Central Office much-needed raises, so I noticed that came out of those funds. I don’t want this money to be squandered on people at the Central Office getting raises and everything else. I want it to be used on brick and mortar. They’ve got their federal money to do everything else with, they’ve got their state grants and federal grants to do everything else with, but it’s always the local money that has to come up with building the schools and that’s where it needs to go.”
Mayor Dollar said she has read the act, though, and that’s not specifically how the money can be used.
“I don’t mind asking them to report on it,” she said. “If you look at the act, though, it says ‘for other educational purposes.’”
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