Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-NewsDalton Board of Education member Steve Laird speaks during a community meeting sponsored by the Dalton Tea Party.

DALTON, Ga. — Dalton Public Schools has a $74 million annual budget and accounts for about 58 percent of a Dalton property owner’s property tax bill, says Board of Education member Steve Laird.

But, except for rare occasions, few people attend school board meetings. That’s why, Laird said, it’s important for school board members and school officials to get out and talk to local civic groups.

Laird spoke Tuesday night at the Huff House during a community meeting sponsored by the Dalton Tea Party.

Laird noted that in the fiscal year that starts July 1 the school system expects to run a deficit of $1.2 million. But he said the deficit could have been larger or the school system could have faced big cuts if it hadn’t received $1.4 million from the state in additional funding.

State Rep. Bruce Broadrick, R-Dalton, who was at the meeting, said the Legislature added more school funding in the supplemental budget it passed earlier this year.

Rebel Burton asked if that $1.4 million would continue in future years. Laird said there is no guarantee that it will.

Laird said the school system expects to end the next fiscal year with a fund balance of about $12.3 million.

“We have set a goal of keeping a fund balance of at least $10 million for cash-flow purposes,” he said.

Laird said the school system gets most of its property tax revenue early in the calendar year, then may need the fund balance to cover spending toward the end of the year.

Some audience members asked about the board’s plans for a new sixth- and seventh-grade school. Laird said that while the board members only recently finalized those plans it has been discussing ways to relieve overcrowding at Dalton Middle School and Dalton High School for several years.

If the new school is built, sixth- and seventh-graders would go to it. Eighth grade would remain at Dalton Middle School and ninth grade would move from Dalton High School to Dalton Middle.

Laird said there would be some additional ongoing expenses to starting a new school — including utilities and a new cafeteria and staff — but he said staffing it would largely be a matter of moving sixth- and seventh-grade teachers from Dalton Middle to the new school.

He noted that the board members had originally focused on a new 6-12 school but after seeing strong opposition from the community to that began to look at other alternatives.

Board members have agreed to shift about $12.5 million of $29 million they expect to receive during the next five years from the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) that voters approved in March to buy land for the 6/7 school. They want to borrow $25 million against that ESPLOST so they can purchase the land and perform roof repairs at Brookwood School and City Park School.

School officials also want to borrow another $50 million, of which $36 million would be used to build the 6/7 school and the rest to pick up those projects that were slated to be funded from the ESPLOST that will not be funded if the system uses money to buy land for the 6/7 school. The school officials said that at least part of that borrowing could be paid back with the proceeds from a future ESPLOST.

Laird said he expects the City Council will place a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to authorize that borrowing.

“That gives us time to get out into the community and explain our plans,” he said.

Dalton Tea Party organizer Naomi Swanson said she’d invited Laird to speak because members had questions about the 6/7 school and other issues.