Friday, March 22, 2002
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Friday, March 22, 2002 |
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SPLOST gets huge win By JOHN
THOMPSON What a difference a year makes. Coweta County voters overwhelmingly approved the school system's special purpose local option sales tax Tuesday and left school officials and senior citizens with a big smile on their face. When all the votes were tallied, 6,342 voted for SPLOST, while 2,395 voted no. Last year, voters turned down SPLOST by fewer than 100 votes. Also on the ballot was a measure that would provide senior citizens some relief from paying school taxes. It won by an even large margin, with 7,434 voting for it while 1,327 voted no. The senior citizen referendum will raise property tax exemptions to exempt the first $40,000 of assessed value for Coweta County property owners aged 65 to 69; $60,000 assessed value for citizens aged 70 to 74; and $80,000 assessed value for citizens 75 and over. Superintendent of Education quietly watched the results Tuesday night at the Coweta County Administrative Complex. Brooks said the difference between last year's results and Tuesday's is fairly simple. "I think the people had a better understanding of what's at stake, which is their children," he said. The Coweta County Board of Education met yesterday to ratify results of the election. Additionally, the board gave the go-ahead for such projects as new bleachers at Northgate High School and new classrooms at East Coweta High School. The renewal of the SPLOST will bring in an estimated $90 million over five years, said school officials, and istargeted at repayment of outstanding debt from bond referendums in the early 1990s, new school construction and a host of classroom additions, repairs and refurbishments at existing schools, Coweta County property owners should see an early result from the vote next fall when property tax bills are mailed. The school system is going to eliminate 1.6 mills each taxpayer pays for repayment of school debt.
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