Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax

1. Construction of a new Southeast Bulloch High School
2. Renovation of four feeder schools for Southeast Bulloch High School (Brooklet Elementary, Nevils Elementary, Stilson Elementary, and Southeast Bulloch Middle schools). This will be done by moving the middle school to the current high school, and moving grades four and five from the elementary schools to the middle school to create an upper elementary. 
3. By doing this, the school district would only build one new school and reorganize four others to take the most efficient approach to meeting student needs and utilizing taxpayer resources as our community grows. 
4. The school district, through the collection of the fifth education special local option sales tax funds (E-SPLOST V), currently only has half of the resources needed to begin construction of this new school. 
5. If approved, the ESPLOST VI funds will be used to move forward with construction of the new Southeast Bulloch High School, which will take three to four years to complete.

The construction and equipping of two new school facilities for Pre-Kindergarten through eighth-grade students across the district. The location will be determined later, to address future population growth. By building Pre-Kindergarten through eighth-grade schools, the school district is taking a flexible approach to meeting student needs and utilizing taxpayer resources as our community changes.

To purchase land for future school sites.

An education special purpose local option sales tax is a one-cent sales tax on all retail sales in Bulloch County. It is an alternative revenue source for public school districts to fund capital improvement projects. Because it is a sales tax, it is paid by both property owners and non-property owners alike. 

No. The sixth Education Special Local Option Sales Tax is a proposed continuation of a one-cent sales tax that has been in place in Bulloch County since 2003 to fund capital project expenses for Bulloch County Schools. An E-SPLOST cycle is for five years, and then voters decide if it will be continued. 

Anyone who makes a purchase in Bulloch County pays the one-cent tax. This is advantageous for Bulloch County due to it being a regional retail sales and tourism hub. These means that in addition to those who own and do not own property, visitors to our county pay the tax as well.

The current education special purpose local option sales tax (#5) is scheduled to collect sales tax revenue from January 2023 through September 30, 2028. It's main purpose is for the construction of a new Southeast Bulloch High School.

This project is a linchpin project to provide additional space for current and future student enrollment at five schools in the southeast bulloch zone. Due to rising construction costs, the school district will need to know that it has secured this sales tax funding through 2033, in order to move forward with breaking ground for the new Southeast Bulloch High School in 2026.

• The entire community benefits from a quality public school system with safe, modern facilities. The social and economic strength of a community are greatly influenced by the success and environment of its schools.
• Having a quality public school system is a key factor in Bulloch County's ability to attract new business, industry, and residents.
• Many school system facilities are used by the public.
• An education special purpose local option sales tax is an alternative source of funding for public schools to pay for capital improvements; therefore, they can either reduce the need or the extent of property taxes or future millage rate increases. They also provide a revenue source that can be shared more fairly among property and non-property owners.
• It is currently estimated that one penny of sales tax revenues is the equivalent of five mills of property tax revenues. The alternative to a sales tax is an increase in property taxes, which are paid by Bulloch County property owners.

No, but it may reduce the amount of future property tax increases. An education special purpose local option sales tax also causes the tax burden to be shared more fairly among property and non-property owners alike because everyone pays sales tax. Without an E-SPLOST, the burden of funding capital projects would come from property taxes.

It is currently estimated that one penny of sales tax revenues is the equivalent of five mills of property tax revenues. The alternative to a sales tax is an increase in property taxes, which are paid by Bulloch County property owners.