Council will vote Nov. 10 on 1-cent sales tax to help fund new school

By By Leada Gore, Hartselle Enquirer
Brick and mortar dreams for a new high school will soon become reality, built on the foundation of a massive influx of interest-free federal funding.
Hartselle is receiving $22.115 million through the Qualified School Construction Bond program. The money is part of the federal economic stimulus program designed to shore up the nation’s economy and can only be used for new construction or repair of existing school facilities.
In Hartselle’s case, the money will go towards the construction of a new high school. That move will allow the existing high school building to be used as a junior high and free up that facility to ease crowding at the system’s three elementary schools.
It also sets in motion a plan to help pay for the estimated $40 million cost of constructing a high school. When they first learned they could possibly receive the funding, city leaders said they would introduce a 1-cent sales tax to cover the additional cost. The 1-cent tax would generate some $1.6 million annually.
A sales tax would have to be approved by the city council. It would take about a month after its passed to institute. A property tax requires a vote of the people.
Tankersley said financial advisors have advised the stimulus funding, 1-cent sales tax, a $350,000 pledge from the school board and refinancing the city’s existing bonds pledged towards the schools would be enough to cover construction costs.
The city is now awaiting information on how the money will flow from the government, Tankersley said, and when it will be received and what the payback schedule will be.
In 2008, Hartselle voters rejected a property tax increase that would have paid for the new school. Previous property tax increase efforts - one in 1990 and another in 2004 - were also rejected.
Hartselle shoppers currently pay 8 percent sales tax. The 1-cent increase would put it at the same level as Decatur, but a penny lower than Falkville, Somerville and Priceville and 2-cents higher than unincorporated Morgan County.
Hartselle received the second highest amount of any school system that applied for funding. Only Madison City’s system received more at $38.3 million. Madison, too, is planning to use the funds to construct a new high school. City leaders there are looking at instituting a sales tax increase, though they have discussed discontinuing it if voters approve a property tax increase in the future.
Systems chosen for the money were selected based on the ability to repay the bonds, percent of students receiving free or reduced lunches and local funding support. Hartselle leads the state in the percent of local funding towards per-pupil expenses.
Hartselle’s plan calls for housing grades K-4 at the elementary schools and moving fifth and sixth graders to the junior high school. The high school would house grades seven and eight, with ninth - 12th at the new high school.
The new school would be built to house 1,200 students, some 300 more than currently attend the high school.
Once construction begins, it will take about two years to complete the high school.
Interstate site being eyed as possible school site
If you build it, they will come. The question is – where to build it?
In the past, school officials have said they would use property it owns on Bethel Road to construct a new high school. Now, faced with the influx of federal funds and a possible sales tax to pay for its construction, that plan is being reconsidered.
The city owns property at the intersection of I65. Several other tracts are owned by individuals.
If the city and the school opt to look at a spot on the intersection, infrastructure needs will have to be addressed. The move would also fit in with a recent move by several other cities which have opted to build schools, such as Birmingham and Greenville, at highly visible interstate locations.