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Columbia County Chamber Supports Renewal of E- SPLOST

Michelle Piper

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors supports the renewal of the Columbia County Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E- SPLOST). 
 
The Chamber, representing more than 900 businesses and organizations, believes that E-SPLOST is one of the fairest ways of funding new or re- building of schools in Columbia County. The sales tax is a consumer-based tax and not a direct property tax imposed only on property and business owners.  Anyone who buys a product in the county will pay the one extra penny per dollar.  Every five years the Columbia County Board of Education members and administration develop a list of E-SPLOST projects to present to voters.  
 
If approved by a majority of voters, the tax collection will take place over five years, 2017-2022, for the identified projects. 
 
New Projects to be funded by the 2017-2022 E-SPLOST
• 2017         New Harlem Middle School
• 2017         New Grovetown Elementary School
• 2017         New Lakeside High Athletic Complex/Egress Road
• 2017         Athletic Improvements at All High Schools
• 2018        New North Harlem Elementary School 
• 2019        New Elementary and/or Middle School

  • Technology upgrades
  • School buses
  • Other building additions/renovations/improvements
  • Additions to Baker Place Elementary and Grovetown Middle schools
E -SPLOST has been a successful tool to fund our quality of life since 1997 and has paid for the following schools:
  • Baker Place Elementary School
  • Cedar Ridge Elementary School
  • Evans Elementary School
  • Martinez Elementary School
  • New elementary school on William Few Parkway
  • Columbia County Middle School
  • Evans Middle Schools
  • Grovetown Middle School
  • Stallings Island Middle School
  • Grovetown High School
  • New additions have been added to seven existing schools to accommodate growth.
With these additional funds, our school system has been able to meet the challenges we face, including, but not limited to, the following:
  • Paying off all long-term debt, including debt for schools as old as Harlem High School and as new as Lakeside High School.
  • Building new schools and adding additional classrooms to accommodate large growth in student populations without incurring any long-term debt.
  • Purchasing and maintaining state of the art technology in our schools.
  • Maintaining and upgrading our athletic facilities, including new field houses, weight rooms, tracks, press boxes, etc.
  • Purchasing air-conditioned school buses to transport more than 11,000 students twice a day.
  • Maintaining a full 180-day calendar year through economic crises while two-thirds of  the school systems across the state had to reduce their calendars.
  • Relieving Columbia County property owners from carrying the entire burden of paying for facilities and  new construction projects. 
Other important facts to consider when weighing the value of the E-SPLOST to our community include the following:
  1. Without the E-SPLOST, the school system would have no other alternative than to raise property taxes and to borrow money long-term to pay for capital needs. 
  2. Our average student expenditure is lower than 88% of the school systems in the state, but our student academic performance is in the top 10%.
  3. Our school system has grown by approximately 2,000 students during the last five years, with more than 600 new students joining us this year alone.
  4. The projected growth for our system is estimated to be between 2,000 and 5,000 over the next three to five years. 
  5. Approximately 90% of the school system’s budget is for necessary personnel such as teachers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, custodians, etc., leaving very few options to pay for all other needs.
  6. Although the E-SPLOST can only be used to pay for school construction, technology, and buses, these funds free up other state and local funds for the remaining needs of the system, such as maintaining paraprofessional classroom support in our elementary schools. While the school board can’t use E-SPLOST funds for these positions, being able to pay for system needs with the one-cent sales tax frees up funds for these and other additional support staff.
  7. The value of an E-SPLOST is that people who make purchases in our county, no matter where they reside, contribute to the education of our children.
  8. Because of the excellent reputation of the Columbia County School System, we continue to attract families to our county and the very best candidates for new teaching positions.  As a result, all of our teachers our highly-qualified in their field of teaching. 

As Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, I urge you to vote YES on March 17th for the renewal of the Educational SPLOST for 2017-2022. Early voting began on February 23, 2015. We have invested in the great quality of life we enjoy in Columbia County.  From a business prospective, we have invested in a top level education system, so that we will have a qualified future workforce for our future.  As a resident of Columbia County, we have invested in the value of our homes and our families for generations to come.