BOE set to vote on $52 million ESPLOST proposal

Voters get last word Nov. 7 whether to extend existing tax

BOE LoGoRGB logoWeb — The Bulloch County Board of Education is slated to vote on a resolution Thursday evening calling for renewal of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for five years with a referendum Nov. 7. If approved by voters, the five-year run of the ESPLOST from Jan. 1, 2019, through 2023 would be a continuation of a 1 percent tax already collected. It is projected to net about $52 million during those five years. If revenue outgrows that projection, the tax would be capped at $62 million. Bulloch County's ESPLOST, first approved by voters in 2003 and renewed, far in advance of the times it would have expired, in 2005 and 2009, has collected about $148 million. Assisted by some state funding, the tax paid for most of the older schools to be rebuilt or replaced with new schools of the same name, beginning with the three high schools and concluding with the Mattie Lively, Sallie Zetterower and Julia P. Bryant elementary schools.

The Bulloch County Board of Education is slated to vote on a resolution Thursday evening calling for renewal of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for five years with a referendum Nov. 7. If approved by voters, the five-year run of the ESPLOST from Jan. 1, 2019, through 2023 would be a continuation of a 1 percent tax already collected. It is projected to net about $52 million during those five years.