Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Happening Now

DeKalb Gets Sales Tax Agreement For New School

Dekalb County a step closer to a new elementary school as Alexandria became the final municipality to extend its sales tax agreement with the county.

DeKalb County Mayor Matt Adcock said the sales tax extension will now extend to 2055 and allow for an additional one-third of sales tax proceeds from all municipalities and the county to go towards building a new Smithville Elementary School. Adcock said if the sales tax agreement was not extended it would have been detrimental.

“We probably would have seen a property tax increase to try and find new revenue,” Adcock said. “And that was the whole point of extending this agreement we could have done a bond and know that we could afford it to 2037 but after that, we couldn’t forecast really on how much revenue we would be receiving without this agreement in place.”

Adcock said the next step for the county commission is to draft a bond resolution. Adcock said the county will pursue a bond resolution that is an estimated $55 million.

“The school board has already hired an architect and they have been speaking with Upland Design Group,” Adcock said. “They have some preliminary plans for this school and some cost estimates. In that cost estimate, we were looking at just below $55 million for this project so we already had an initial price that we were looking at so we kind of knew what we needed ahead of time.”

Adcock said a drafted bond resolution should come before the county commission within the next couple of months. Adcock said after a resolution is approved the county will meet with the school board.

“After the bond resolution is passed we’ll get with the schools on further needs and assessments that will go along with the cost estimate,” Adcock said.

Adcock thanked all the municipalities for their commitment and willingness to help build a new school in Smithville. Adcock said being able to move forward with the plan to build a new elementary school without hurting the taxpayers is a big win for everybody.

Share