SPLOST Saving Local Taxpayers While Benefiting Heard County Students
Over the past twenty-five years, the Heard County School System has witnessed a tremendous increase in student academic achievement, graduation rates, athletic program success, and an overall boost in the reputation of the school system in the region and across the state of Georgia. One of the primary reasons for this increase is the support that the school system receives from the entire Heard County community. Evidence of this support includes community attendance at school events, community involvement in mentorship activities, and the overwhelming support that Heard County voters have shown in passing E-SPLOST every time it comes up for a vote. “E-SPLOST has become the backbone for being able to provide the top tier education that Heard County citizens have come to expect from our school system,” stated Superintendent Rodney Kay. “It has given us the financial resources necessary to improve facilities, buy educational resources, update our bus fleet, and so much more. All of this without having to increase the millage rate for local property taxes.”
Beginning in the late 1990s, E-SPLOST allowed the school system to build a new middle school facility, which at the time was sharing a campus with Heard County High School. A new facility for Heard County Elementary School was completed in 2006, followed by a new Heard County High School facility in 2010. Major renovation projects at both Centralhatchee Elementary School and Ephesus Elementary School were completed, and in 2018 the system made a major move to improve transportation safety by adding 30 new school buses.
E-SPLOST has also allowed the system to purchase Chromebooks for students, increase bandwidth, buy textbooks, provide instructional materials, and construct or update athletic facilities. With school safety being a top priority in recent years, E-SPLOST has allowed the school system to add infrastructure and implement a safety system to protect students in case of an intruder. Desperately needed school furniture was also purchased, along with floor renovations and much needed camera systems at all locations. Additionally, career pathways such as agriculture and livestock, culinary arts, construction, automotive, and A/V technology have received critical resources and equipment. “The addition of these resources in our CTAE Pathways has allowed our programs to burst onto the scene locally and at the regional and state levels”, stated Kay.
In 2022, the school system completed the building of a performing arts center and gymnasium on property adjacent to the Heard County High School Campus. Used for close to 200 school programs, community events, and public concerts, the GPAC has been invaluable to the development of the performing arts programs throughout the school system. In the upcoming months, the school system will begin construction of a new agricultural facility and weightroom. These expansions are necessary to keep up with the student demand for agricultural and weight training classes. More than 300 of the 650 students are enrolled in these growing classes. Kay added, “The incredible thing to ponder is that 25 years worth of E-SPLOST dollars has produced so much for our students. We do not do school the same way we did it 25 years ago….and we shouldn’t be! We are proud of the growth we have seen in our athletic programs, our performing arts programs, and our Career/Technical Agricultural Education programs. We do not apologize for growing world class programs, and we do not boast about the way the monies have been managed. This Board of Education and the ones who have served before them should be commended for prioritizing the needs of our students. It is an incredible testament to them that there has been so much improvement, so many additions and renovations, and one thing has remained constant…the millage rate. Every school in the system has been paid for. Every vehicle in the system has been paid for. Every piece of technology and every instructional resource, nothing is owed!”
While property tax rates have been increasing in many surrounding counties, Heard County’s millage rate has remained the lowest in the area for more than a decade. (See the chart below.) Despite maintaining a low millage rate, Heard County will likely hold millage rates over 14 in order to stay qualified for Equalization, as mandated by the state of Georgia. Equalization is determined by ranking school systems by wealth per FTE (student). Heard County has qualified for Equalization for the past seven years, and should receive $1.7 million from the state of Georgia for the 2023-24 school year. With the closing of Plant Wansley, Heard County should receive increasing amounts in Equalization funds for the next several years. If Heard County lowered the millage rate under 14, then the local taxpayers would need to cover the cost previously covered by Equalization funds. Kay stated, “It’s a tricky thing trying to explain the balance between equalization and the millage rate. As simply as I can put it…if we fall below 14 mills then our school system will be losing 1.7 million dollars that will have to be covered from somewhere. Our community needs to realize that 1.7 million dollars is almost 4 mills of local tax dollars that is covered by the state through the equalization program. Our community also needs to realize that “open enrollment” generates another mill of tax for them without them having to pay a single dime. How does it work? We have empty seats in our classrooms because we are small and our student population has been unchanged for years. By bringing kids in to fill those seats we increase our state funding by anywhere from 5 to 7 thousand dollars per child and our expenses are unchanged. The lights are already on in our classrooms. The AC/Heat is already on in our classrooms. The instructional materials have already been purchased for our classrooms. Open enrollment students do not use our buses. We vowed to not accept so many that we have to pay for an additional teacher, and we have kept that word for my 7 years in the Superintendent’s seat. The only cost I see is when one of those children flush a toilet or get a sip of water from the water fountain and 5 to 7 thousand certainly outweighs very little water consumption.”
MILLAGE RATE HISTORY
SCHOOL SYSTEM | 2017 Millage | 2018 Millage | 2019 Millage | 2020 Millage | 2021 Millage | 2022 Millage | Tax on a $200,000 property |
Carrollton City | 18.500 | 18.500 | 18.500 | 18.500 | 18.500 | 18.50 | $1,480.00 |
Meriwether County | 18.608 | 18.376 | 18.185 | 18.124 | 17.981 | 17.699 | $1,415.92 |
Carroll County | 17.998 | 17.998 | 17.998 | 17.998 | 17.998 | 17.50 | $1,400.00 |
Harris County | 17.910 | 17.910 | 19.260 | 17.260 | 17.260 | 17.50 | $1,400.00 |
Troup County | 18.850 | 18.850 | 18.850 | 18.850 | 18.850 | 17.35 | $1,388.00 |
Pike County | 18.669 | 18.664 | 18.665 | 16.933 | 16.677 | 17.032 | $1,362.56 |
Coweta County | 18.590 | 18.590 | 18.590 | 17.300 | 17.140 | 16.00 | $1,280.00 |
Heard County | 15.643 | 15.396 | 15.376 | 15.371 | 15.217 | 14.454 | $1,156.32 |
SPLOST has been a major reason local leaders have been able to keep taxes lower. Adding to this benefit for Heard County citizens is the fact that over 40% of SPLOST payments come from utility companies, 30% from manufacturing, and another substantial portion comes from outsiders who make purchases in Heard County. This savings for local taxpayers is just one of the reasons Heard County has been recognized as an example of good government and on multiple occasions has been ranked first out of 159 counties for providing taxpayers the most for their tax dollars. Kay concluded, “We are trying to take care of the facilities and make sure the system is in good shape for the next 50 years without burdening the taxpayers of this county. I would just like to say thank you for the support of our community! We are proud of where we have come from 25 years ago, and we look forward to seeing where the next 25 years take us.”