TO THE EDITOR

I would like to thank Al Bean for his letter to the editor in last week’s Journal. It is time the truth be shared with the taxpayers of Lincoln County.

I would also like to thank those courageous school system employees and educators who are bringing to light additional cost concerns - for example only teachers, no administrators, being targeted for layoff to reduce the budget. This shared insight is disturbing as Lincoln County is paying for nearly 25% more administration than the average Georgia school system. If the concern is truly for the children, why is such a top heavy organization necessary? Should not every available dollar be used to pay for student interface instead of bureaucracy?

Mr. Bean’s 105% per capita school tax increase between 2000 and 2008 is correct. Additionally, the Lincoln County Board of Education’s figures show that “Net Taxes Levied” on Lincoln County property owners by the BOE increased well over 150% from FY 2000 to FY 2010. The BOE figures show an increase from $1,811,766 to $4,638,225. That is a little less than 15% a year, every year. I’ll bet very few Lincoln County taxpayers had this size increases in their salaries or social security checks or pensions!

Mr. Bean’s logic on the new school is correct. Taxpayers need to be aware that a consolidated middle and high school was proposed to the state of Georgia to get more state money, about two million dollars more as I remember. Unfortunately, this consolidated middle/high school concept was carried into the design of the school, so our BOE has built a school big enough for grades 6 through 12, but they only plan to use it for grades 9 to 12. The school will have many empty classrooms paid for with our tax dollars. This means that the amount of money borrowed that must be paid back by Lincoln County property taxpayers is unnecessarily high. A simplistic ratio of the bond amounts reveals that between seven and nine million dollars more than is necessary is being spent. This will cause another totally unnecessary round of tax increases on Lincoln County citizens, especially painful for senior citizens.

If this new school is big enough for grades 6-12, shouldn’t it be used for grades 6-12? The BOE has been calling it a combined high school/ middle school since before construction start but now they plan to only use it as a high school. Taxpayers need to know that the costs of keeping the middle school in the old building or the savings if it was moved to the new school are not part of the current BOE budget discussions. As the BOE usually spends an inordinate amount of time discussing, with cost information, buying a school bus or a piano or a new sidewalk, how can such an expensive facility decision be made without a BOE vote on the issue with costs clearly spelled out for public input prior to that vote. Has this decision already been made where the sun don’t shine? Why can’t taxpayers be given the total tax impact of BOE decisions instead of just a little bit at a time?

One significant issue that has been glossed over by the BOE is that for SPLOST (sales tax) to pay for the new school, as was originally implied, that retail sales in Lincoln County would have to be twice as high as ever before in history. The BOE plans for the rest of the money to be made up with more double digit percentage property tax increases that will hit senior citizens hard. That will mean that senior citizens will have less money to spend locally so SPLOST will be even lower and then more property tax increases will be needed to make up that shortage too.

It is not necessary to remind anyone, other than the BOE, of the national and local economic recession - layoffs, business closings, medical costs sky rocketing, high unemployment, utility bills, food costs. The effect of another property tax increase on Lincoln County senior citizens has not been part of the current BOE discussions. Have we forgotten that in July 2008 near 80% of all Lincoln County voters, who were allowed to vote on the issue, thought that senior citizens should get a school tax break? Unfortunately, that privilege which is available in many counties statewide is now impossible in Lincoln County because of the decisions made and still being made by the BOE. The BOE has not once addressed this clear vote of the taxpayers.

I am glad Mr. Bean brought the truth to the attention of everyone in the county before the BOE even considers another tax increase, much less votes on one. I urge all Lincoln County tax payers to contact their Board of Education member and tell them what higher taxes will do to them before any more long term crippling decisions are made.

NELSON BROOKS

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