Douglas County School Bond Election Results

March 20, 2007 Voters (or at least a small fraction) of Douglas County Georgia went to the polls to vote on a proposed $150,000,000, 20 year property bond.

www.DouglasTaxes.com will have the election results as soon as they are published.

Douglas County: $150 Million School Bond? Taxpayers Should Vote “NO”

$150 Million School Bond? Taxpayers Should Vote “NO”

OPINION: James Bell, Director – Douglas County Taxpayers Coalition
March 6, 2007

As citizens prepare to file tax returns for 2006, the issue of taxation becomes a sobering reality that begs the question; how much tax is enough? It now takes the average Georgia worker 23 weeks, working 5 days a week, 8 hours a day to pay the current federal, state and local taxes and fees. Now officials of Douglas County Georgia want more.

On March 20, 2007 the voters will have the opportunity to cast one of the most important tax votes in our history. If approved, the proposed $150,550,000, twenty year school property bond will put Douglas County School System more than $300,000,000 in debt.

This time I will vote “NO” against more debt.

This was not an easy decision for me to make. I have spent months researching the call by the Board of Education for more debt. I have concluded that new bonds will do little to solve the problems of growth or to improve the quality of education in our county.

More than 70 percent of our property tax goes to the school system. This makes the Board of Education one of the most powerful government entities. Citizens who have attended one of “their” board meetings probably found they were the only ones present. Restrictive rules on public participation have created a board isolated from the public and distant from the realities of citizens. Those attempting to comment are silenced and threatened with removal. What kind of political potentates have we elected?

The Board of Education waited until after the November election to call for more property tax. They knew if they placed this property tax increase on the ballot, the bond vote would have failed and they certainly would not have been re-elected to office.

The devious and unprecedented ballot language panders to senior citizens. The ballot language claims that some qualified home owners will be exempt from this property tax increase. It is insulting that the school board believes that because one class of home owners may be exempt, they would be willing to pass the burden of millions of dollars of debt onto their children and grandchildren.

Given the history of project cost overruns and mismanagement by Douglas County officials, there are no guarantees there will be enough money to build all the promised new schools. If overruns consume all the bond money, existing schools will get nothing. No new computers, no renovations, no new buses. The school board will then come back and ask for more money.

The Board of Education will not even reveal the locations where new schools may be needed for fear of voter backlash. Since some neighborhoods have adequate schools, the new ones will not be built in their communities. Citizens rightly believe they will be footing the bill for new schools for new development in other areas.

According to school officials, there are few available properties to accommodate the new schools. This means the school board would use eminent domain to seize property, thereby displacing homes, businesses and communities.

An issue of concern is the amount of money that’s paid to school officials. The school superintendent is paid more than $200,000 a year in salary and expenses. That’s half the salary of the President of the United States or about the same as the Vice President. While this may seem nominal, given the massive expenditures of the school system, it is a consideration for common folks who are asked to fund more debt.

While they have trouble recruiting new teachers because starting pay is too low compared to corporate offerings, the superintendent’s salary has escalated from $140,000 to more than $200,000 in just a few years. Most of us receive a meager 3 percent cost of living increase.

In a recent meeting with the Douglas County state legislative delegation, rather than proposing ideas for better education, school officials lobbied to remove limits on property tax. School officials were more concerned about the quantity of taxes they can squeeze out of property owners than the quality of education they should provide. They also lobbied against a proposal that would give parents of special needs kids an alternative to inadequate education. School officials claim only they have the expertise to educate these children. At the same time, they complain these children are driving down test scores.

It’s a fact that Georgia is near the bottom in education. We have moved up slightly only because two other states have moved down. Douglas County ranks 11th in test scores out of the 13 metro Atlanta counties. We have some of the finest teachers in the nation. It’s not their fault! We must elect officials who can think out of the box and use cost effective ways to improve education.

Little has been done to address the problem of growth in the county, other than to ask for more taxes. Let’s look at some solutions.

1. The issue of growth is in the lap of the Board of Commissioners and the city councils. They have the authority and mandate to reject any development that will adversely affect our communities. While property owners have a right to develop their properties, it should not be done at the expense of taxpayers. A moratorium on development may be needed until the citizens and government can study better solutions to growth.
2. It must be determined if allegations of under assessed commercial and industrial properties are true. If so, this is costing the county tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year. Revenue short falls must then be made up by home owners. This may explain the over assessed values we are seeing of homes. While the real estate market slumps and sales stagnate, property value assessments are artificially inflated.
3. We should do as many other communities and utilize vacant “big box” facilities and convert them into schools. This would save millions of dollars and be an alternative to buying more mobile class rooms.
4. Better education does not always mean elaborate sports stadiums, $20 million gymnasiums and theaters. Sports and other activities can be provided by private athletic and arts associations. This is how private and charter schools are able to provide cost effective and better quality education.
5. On a broader scale, we must push all elected officials to end restrictive federal, state and regional mandates that tie the hands of parents, teachers and administrators. This would allow parents to choose better alternatives for educating their children.

Voting “NO” on March 20^th will send a clear message that we must seek better long term solutions for growth and education. It will not be an easy task, but it is an issue we must face head on. One thing is certain we must not attempt to solve short term problems with long term debt. Future generations will applaud our actions. After all, “it’s for the children.”