Franklin County voters may cast ballots to extend a penny tax to benefit schools beginning Monday. Early voting in the referendum to extend the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) for education will be held weekdays Feb. 22 through March 12 from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Franklin County Elections and Registration office at 7850 Royston Road in Carnesville.
-
Franklin County voters may cast ballots to extend a penny tax to benefit schools beginning Monday. Early voting in the referendum to extend the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) for education will be held weekdays Feb. 22 through March 12 from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Franklin County Elections and Registration office at 7850 Royston Road in Carnesville.
CARNESVILLE – Franklin County voters may cast ballots to extend a penny tax to benefit schools beginning Monday.
Early voting in the referendum to extend the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) for education will be held weekdays Feb. 22 through March 12 from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Franklin County Elections and Registration office at 7850 Royston Road in Carnesville.
The Franklin County School System is asking to extend the local one-cent per dollar tax for five years or until it collects $30 million.
If the tax is approved by voters, the county’s total sales tax levy will remain at seven per cent.
The money collected from the tax will be used to fund a new Royston Elementary School, agriculture and athletic facilities at Franklin County High School and transportation and technology needs.
The items to be funded are listed in the ballot question.
Franklin County School Superintendent Chris Forrer said that the SPLOST is needed for those projects and for the maintenance of the system’s current facilities.
The school system uses two-to-three mills worth of SPLOST money each year on maintenance projects that can be funded with the sales tax, he said.
“If all of that had to come out of the local digest, it would be devastating,” he said.
Most of the SPLOST proceeds – an estimated $20 million – will be used to build a new Royston Elementary School.
The system plans to sell bonds against the tax proceeds to build the new school.
Part of the cost will be offset by $3 million in state money that Franklin County will apply for by July.
That state money will then be used to pay for other projects on the SPLOST list until tax collections come in.
Athletics improvements planned for the SPLOST include artificial turf and a new scoreboard at Ed Bryant Stadium, as well as a new track.
A new agriculture barn is planned, and the system’s agriculture center will either be replaced or renovated.
The SPLOST will also be used to replace worn-out buses and to buy computers and technology for students and teachers.
More detailed stories on the system’s plans will be featured in future issues of the Franklin County Citizen Leader.
Voters may request an absentee ballot for the referendum by calling the elections office at 706-384-4390.