One of the most critical issues Chattooga County voters will decide in the June 9^th primary election is whether or not to continue the 1% Educational Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST).  Chattooga County currently has a 7% sales tax rate.  Voters will decide whether to keep the sales tax rate at 7% and continue the ESPLOST or to reduce the sales tax rate to 6% and discontinue the ESPLOST.

WZQZ General Manager Jimmy Holbrook recently sat down with both superintendents from Chattooga County Schools and Trion City Schools last week in a joint interview in Chattooga County School Superintendent Jared Hosmer’s office to talk about the upcoming referendum on the ESPLOST.

The primary issue that both superintendents wanted to emphasize is that both school systems already have debt in place that will have to paid by the taxpayers.  The question is not whether the debt will be paid but how it will be paid.  When the current ESPLOST ends in March of 2022, Chattooga County will still owe approximately $10,000.000 in debt.  The ESPLOST spreads the burden across everyone who spends money in Chattooga County in the form of a sales tax.  Both Chattooga County citizens and people and businesses from outside of Chattooga County share the burden of payment under the ESPLOST.

Should voters not pass the ESPLOST, both superintendents stated that property taxes would have to be raised in order to pay the existing debt.  When asked how Trion residents would be affected should the ESPLOST not pass, Dr. Phil Williams stated, “The Trion BOE would have to speak with the Trion Town Council and implement a property tax increase”.  Dr. Williams pointed out that Trion currently has the lowest property tax rate in the state of Georgia at 5.7 mils.

An ESPLOST is a great way for small, rural counties to build and update educational facilities that it otherwise could not afford.  Dr. Williams added, “Chattooga County doesn’t have the tax infrastructure to build new schools, new gyms, new weight rooms, additions to schools and update the technology and equipment.  You have to be able to pass an ESPLOST in this county to be able to buy those things for the students.  And one ESPLOST is not going to pay for those facilities.  It is going to take more than one ESPLOST.”

Superintendent Jared Hosmer pointed out that the ESPLOST is not a new tax as depicted by many signs that have been popping up around the county.  Hosmer said that Chattooga County has been collecting an ESPLOST since 1999.  The current ESPLOST (#5) ends in March of 2022.

Hosmer says that currently, Chattooga County schools receives an average of $150,000 monthly from the ESPLOST while Williams says that Trion averages around $80,000 per month.  Projects that are currently being financed through the ESPLOST in the county school system are the new Chattooga High School, the addition at Leroy Massey elementary school and the new Lyerly gym.  Trion’s current ESPLOST financed projects are the new gym, band room, weight room, student technology and the school’s security system.

If the ESPLOST passes, Hosmer says that after the old debt is paid off, the funds would be used to build a new school in Menlo to replace the current school that is nearly 90 years old and in need of major renovations.  Williams said that Trion would use the funds to retire existing debt and for several general maintenance projects as well as a new Healthcare Training Facility where the current bus barn is located to train students interested in entering the medical field.

The bottom line is Chattooga County will have over 10 million dollars in debt at the end of 2022 when the current ESPLOST expires.  If voters decide to renew the ESPLOST, the sales tax rate will remain the same and the debt would be paid with new ESPLOST funds.  If voters do not continue the ESPLOST, a property tax increase would be the only way to service the existing debt.

WZQZ will air the entire interview with Jimmy Holbrook, Dr. Phil Williams and Superintendent Jared Hosmer on Saturday morning after the 8am newscast.