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Taxes main issue of BOE work session The Washington County School Board met in a work session Feb. 26 and ad valorem taxes was the topic of hour. Michael Onderdonk, the board's attorney addressed the seriousness of the possible expiration of the 12 mills ad valorem taxes. Onderdonk said the taxes fall into three categories: a 1 mill tax going back to 1875 which must be approved by 3/5 of the electorate; a 3 mills tax that requires a simple majority approval and a 3 mills district tax that also requires a simple majority approval; but the district tax cannot be voted on until the results of the previous 3 mills election is known. All these taxes were last passed in 1976 and expire this year unless reinstated. Washington County has an additional 5 mills ad valorem tax which has no expiration date. Onderdonk emphasized the workload facing the board in publicizing and campaigning for the passage of these taxes. Additionally, the district tax requires that the board divide the county into two districts which must conform to voter precincts. Onderdonk has done research and proposed to the board that the first election be held in June of 2007. As the fiscal year for state and county governments begin on Oct. 1, the second election for the district tax must take place before that date and Onderdonk suggested Sept. 12 as a target date. Onderdonk and the board hope that the governor's request for a special election to approve 400,000,000 dollars to lure industry into Alabama will become a reality and will place most of the expense for the June election on the state. However, the September election costs will be borne solely by the county. In Monday's commission meeting, Probate Judge Charles Singleton estimated the cost for both elections to be $110,00 if the county has to pay for both. Attorney Onderdonk reminded the board these elections should have occurred with the 2006 June Primary and the 2006 November General Election with very little local costs. Superintendent Tim Savage indicated that the blame lies with the state. "The first letter we had about this from the state is dated Jan. 12," he said. A constitution amendment passed during last year's legislative session makes it mandatory for every county governing body to earmark 10 mills of ad valorem taxes to local school systems. Therefore, Onderdonk told the board that in the worse case scenario, the Washington County System can lose only two mills. Chief Financial Officer Larry Moss told the group that 2 mills comes to $677,527 per year for Washington County as the 10 mills by law must go into the Foundation Program. He explained that the 2 mills would come out of the general fund and stated, "We will be in a mess to lose $677,000." "I fault the Alabama State Department of Education for not letting you all know about this," said Onderdonk. The Board has been invited to meet jointly with the Washington County Commission at the next commission on March 12 to discuss the special tax elections. Technology Mac Stewart, technology coordinator, gave a brief demonstration on surfing the Washington County Board of Education Web site and also a lesson to board members on receiving and sending e-mail. However, most board members do not have Internet access, so Stewart suggested they could check their e-mail at a school or in the central office. Fred Thomas, board member McIntosh, said he has encountered problems because Washington County does not have written job descriptions. It involves school employees bypassing their principal to report instead to central office supervisors.
Superintendent Savage said that there is an ongoing effort to revamp these board policies.
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