School tax renewal to be decided Jan. 16

By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Voters residing within Morgan County Consolidated School District A are being asked to go to the polls Jan. 16 and vote for the renewal of a 7.3 mill property tax. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters of Hartselle and Decatur are not involved.
That message is being passed down from school principals to teachers and from students to parents, both orally and by letter.
The expiration of the 30-year tax caught school officials by surprise last September and they immediately took steps to bring it back to voters for renewal in the form of a special referendum. When they realized it was too late to have it put on the November General Election ballot, they asked the Morgan County Commission to authorize the holding of such an election as soon as possible in 2007.
The tax was approved by voters in 1957 in the amount of 5.7 mills. It was increased to 7.3 mills in 1976 by special constitutional authority granted to the Morgan County Commission.
If renewal is approved, the tax would commence with the levy for the tax year beginning Oct. 1, 2006, and continuing through the tax year ending Oct. 31, 2036. Its collection would also be resumed as a levy on personal property such as motor vehicles.