Fulton to fund all SPLOST projects despite revenue loss

The Fulton County Board of Education may have avoided its own "battle of the bands" by agreeing to build band room additions and science labs at two older high schools as well as a brand new high school in North Fulton to relieve Milton and Roswell high schools.

How to fund the multi-million dollar package is a whole different conversation, and one that may not be answered for a few years. However, the school board apparently would rather face that problem later than the problems of not completing the SPLOST projects as originally planned.

Last month, Fulton School staff said sales tax revenues – which fund the construction projects - were down significantly and some promised projects might have to be put off until 2013 and beyond. That assessment immediately set off intense debate, with lobbying for specific projects coming from all sides.

In North Fulton, the Centennial and Chattahoochee high school communities were livid that promised work on their schools might be put on hold while a $65 million high school is built just down the road from nearly the new Milton High. On the other side of town, the Milton community is facing an enrollment projection of 2,800 students by 2012 and a return to the portable village if the proposed high school at Bethany and Cogburn roads were delayed. Roswell High faces similar growth circumstances and is seeking relief.

The projects in North Fulton are among the hundreds of projects scheduled to be paid for with proceeds from the 1 percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). The current SPLOST is in its third cycle ending in June 2012. The five-year tax was anticipated to bring in $842.5 million.

However the figure has been downgraded to $670 million – a projected $170 million difference. There are hopeful signs. February collections this year were $12.5 million – down just slightly from last February's collections and above expectations – which could indicate the situation is not as dire as predicted.

After studying the numbers, some members of the school board urged that all promises be kept, saying estimates of plummeting sales tax revenues may be a bit pessimistic, and premature. The tanking economy also means builders have less work, and project costs – if started now - could be 15 percent to 20 percent less than anticipated.

"Now is the time to make hay and get the most out of our dollars," said Alpharetta board member Katie Reeves. "I'm a little leery about being overly conservative [with our financial assumptions.] I've got a fight brewing between high school communities and I don't need that."

In a rare push back against the new superintendent, the school board was not prepared to look only at funding projects for Fiscal Year 2010, which is what staff recommended. The board said the construction schedule must be considered over a multi-year period since each project runs over the course of several years.

"It is incredibly short-sighted to have a one-year approval process," said Reeves. "When you make a decision for 2010 its naïve to think 2010 does not then affect [later years]. It's time to kick the can down the road, look at all of the latest numbers and make decision for the entire program."

Roswell board member Linda Schultz also urged promises be kept to the North Fulton community which supported the SPLOST.

"[I would like to see us] keep all projects intact, which includes the additions to the older high schools along with building the new high school," said Schultz. "This is not only to solve capacity issues but to meet education specifications."

The school staff came back at the next board meeting with a revised construction schedule through 2012 which includes all the North Fulton projects, funded through a combination of SPLOST proceeds, millage, bonds, lease/purchase arrangements or other methods as needed. The project schedule will be voted on by the board at this month's meeting.

The only North Fulton project which may not make the cut for a 2012 opening is the middle school on Freemanville Road in Milton, which had been scheduled to open by 2012. The revised schedule now has that school opening in 2012 or 2013.

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