.5 Mill Referendum
Please vote yes on the referendum. Bob is right. It is tax neutral. We are asking the voters to allow us to transfer a .5 mill from the capital outlay budget to the operating budget. As you know, the capital outlay budget is a budget where we can levy up to 2.0 mills for construction and maintenance of buildings. We have to ask the voters permission for the transfer every four years. This is the third time we have asked. When we first received permission from the voters to do this, we simultaneously reduced the capital outlay millage by the one half mill so there would not be a tax increase. In fact, since that time, we lowered the capital outlay millage again. So, this is not a tax increase. Just a transfer from one pot of money to the other.
This money will go to the operations budget which is the budget from which we pay teachers, buy materials, pay utilities, etc. We used the transferred money to initially raise teachers' salaries substantially so we could compete for good teachers with surrounding counties. We are there now. We now need the money to maintain those salaries given the State is continuing to shrink our operating budget. This half mill money is essential to maintain our current level of service.
As for the capital outlay budget, even after the reductions in that millage, I am confident we can begin the construction of the needed new elementary classrooms in south Walton. We have some other needs in the county which we can meet as well.
Lastly, someone asked whey the elementary classrooms were removed from a previous five year plan. Frankly, we decided to build a new ECMS and once completed, we believed the old building would provide adequate classroom space for elementary kids for at least three to five years. Obviously, as I stated before, we were wrong and we need to fix that as soon as we can.
Again, I don't think the transfer of the funds will prevent or slow down the construction of those classrooms. So, please support the referendum!
