Dalton City Council OKs $13.94 million in bonds for school system

Published 1:55 pm Tuesday, October 3, 2017

DALTON, Ga. — This time, members of the Dalton City Council had no objections to a request by the Dalton Board of Education to issue bonds backed by the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) voters approved in March.

Council members voted 4-0 to ask the Dalton Building Authority to issue $13.94 million in bonds to fund work at Brookwood, City Park and Roan schools and Dalton High School. The Dalton Building Authority will soon call a meeting to vote on issuing the bonds.

Earlier this month, council members tabled a resolution that would have asked the building authority to issue $18.2 million in bonds backed by the ESPLOST. Council members objected that around $4 million of that would have been used to buy land for a proposed sixth- and seventh-grade schools. They said that while the ESPLOST language might have been broad enough to allow that they did not believe that voters realized that when they approved it. Council members asked the school board to come back with a proposal that included only the projects spelled out in the referendum and no money for the new school.

“That was the only objection we had,” said council member Tyree Goodlett.

School officials agreed at that time to bring back a bond request that did not contain money for the new school.

Dalton voters will vote on a separate $50 million bond referendum on Nov. 7. If approved, that money will be used to build the new 6/7 school.

“There may have been some fine print in the ESPLOST referendum that allowed them to spend money on a new school, but many voters didn’t understand it that way,” said council member Gary Crews. “The (Nov. 7 referendum) will put that choice back in the hands of voters.”

The new five-year ESPLOST will begin on Jan. 1, 2018, and is projected to collect $98 million, with Whitfield County Schools receiving $61 million and Dalton Public Schools $37 million based on each system’s share of enrollment.

Interim Superintendent Don Amonett said that by borrowing money against those funds rather than waiting for the taxes to be collected the school system can get started on its projects sooner.

Among the projects Dalton Public Schools will use its share of the money for are new roofs and heating and air conditioning at Brookwood, City Park and Roan schools, expansion of the gym at Dalton High School and new technology.

In a work session before the council’s regular meeting, Brett Huske, director of tourism with the Dalton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), updated members on the CVB’s work.

He said Dalton and Whitfield County collected a record $1.7 million in hotel/motel taxes in 2016. He said the five Softball Players Association tournaments that will be held in Dalton this year, for instance, will generate some $2.3 million in retail sales and hotel rooms.