In recent weeks, we’ve heard about T-SPLOST 2022, a one penny sales tax to fund improvements to transportation in Athens-Clarke County. That’s expected to be in front of voters next May. But, there’s another SPLOST measure on the ballot next month, and early voting is already underway for that. Alexia Ridley spoke to WUGA's Martin Matheny, who has been covering all things SPLOST for us.
Alexia Ridley: So, let's talk about ESPLOST 6.
Martin Matheny Sure, the “E” in ESPLOST stands for “education.” It's a 1% sales tax to fund education improvements. It's a lot like TSPLOST or any other SPLOST. The voters get the final say this November, and if you're voting, you'll get to know what's on the list of projects before you vote. This is ESPLOST 6. We've had an ESPLOST running continuously in Athens Clarke County since about 1998, and they come up for renewal about every five years or so. This one, like you mentioned, is on the ballot on November 2nd, and early voting is underway now.
Ridley: And as you said, we've had an EPLOST in Clarke County for over 20 years. What are some of the projects that previous ESPLOSTs have funded?
Matheny: Sure, well let's go back to ESPLOST 5, which is the one that's still currently in effect. It began in 2017- it was a pretty big measure. The projected revenue for that was around $130 million, and that money funded, among other things, a new middle school for Hilsman Middle as well as three new elementary schools, Barnett Shoals, Oglethorpe and Whitehead. And big renovations at Burney Harris Lyons, as well as Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals. Plus new school buses, various technology upgrades, things like that. It was a big measure.
Ridley: And how about in EPLOST 6? What are some of the major projects on the table?
Matheny: So, the estimated revenue from ESPLOST 6, if the voters approve it next month, is about $120 million and probably the biggest item on that list is a brand new, Clarke Middle School. We'd also see major renovations at Cedar Shoals, as well as Gaines, Alps Road and Cleveland Rd elementary schools, more new buses, and big technology upgrades, which is pretty important right now as we're kind of entering into the era of more virtual learning because of the pandemic.
Ridley: You mentioned new school construction both in previous ESPLOSTs and in this upcoming one. Can you talk about how the decision gets made to rebuild the school, rather than just renovate it? Matheny Right, so I talked to Andrew Malec, who's a member of the school district’s Community Oversight Committee. That's the group that oversees ESPLOST projects and expenditures, and here's what he told me about the decision to build a new school.
Andrew Malec: If a renovation cost exceeds 70% of the projected cost of new facilities, that's when they would consider [rebuilding] the school altogether.
Matheny: So, for example, a new school might cost $20 million to build, but if the cost of renovating the existing school was more than $14 million, the district would generally elect to just go for new construction.
Ridley: What about construction costs? Recently we've seen the cost of most construction materials just skyrocket. How does the school district account for such an unpredictable set of variables?
Matheny: Yeah, that was another question that I had for Andrew Malec, who, in addition to being on the Community Oversight Committee, also works in the construction industry. Here's what he said.
Andrew Malec: So, I mean really, the answer is to, in particular in today's environment, to kind of forecast high and ultimately kind of assume that you know things are going to be more expensive than they were two, three, four, or five years ago, and that has been the case across the board.
Matheny So basically, they plan for high construction costs because it's obviously better to be under budget than over. And if a project comes in under budget, the Board of Education gets to decide how to spend those leftover funds.
Ridley: And where can listeners go to learn more about ESPLOST 6?
Matheny: We'll have links to a bunch of resources about the proposed ESPLOST on this story’s page on our website, including a link to a presentation that lays out ESPLOST 6 in more detail. And of course, as a reminder Election Day is November 2nd, and early voting is underway now, so we'll also have links to early voting information on our story as well.
