The Alexander City Outlook

Coosa County passes school resolution

The Coosa County Commission decided to help the county’s school district by allowing it to use excess funding from a one-cent sales tax, which was set aside only for build a new cafeteria/gymnasium, for general expenses.

Coosa School Superintendent Dennis Sanford said this will provide short-term help for its school district, but it doesn’t solve the long-term problem.

“Today is an immediate fix, but it doesn’t solve our local funding problem,” Sanford said.

Commissioners decided to make the move after a non-binding referendum on the issue passed overwhelmingly July 13.

With the resolution passing Tuesday, Sanford said the school will now be able to seek adequate lines of credit to help the school district pay its bills through the final two months of the fiscal year. Prior to the meeting, he has already talked to Frontier Bank in Sylacauga, Regions Bank and Wachovia about obtaining a loan.

The school system is facing a nearly $1 million shortfall in funding due to proration cuts this year. Because of that, the State Board of Education voted to give the state the ability to intervene in Coosa County’s school system at its last meeting July 13, the same day as Coosa voters went to the polls for the referendum.

Sanford said the state intervention shouldn’t change the day-to-day operations of the school, but it will mean the state could allow the school system to be more flexible with its money.

“The state isn’t going to take total control of the system,” Sanford said. “The state may intervene, but it won’t be as drastic as past state takeovers in the past. There hasn’t been any mismanagement of funds. The problem is that we don’t have any local funding and when the state declares proration, we don’t have any extra reserves to fall back on.”

Sanford said he is concerned about what will happen in the future, especially next year when federal stimulus money will run out. One item that he has proposed is adding a 5-mill property tax, three mills for education and two mills for county government.

However, he is still open to other options that would give the county more money.

“I don’t know what the answer is,” Sanford said. “Do we have a good solution on the table? We’re going to have to work with (the commission) to solve this problem.”

In other business, the commission:

approved a resolution to apply for a community development block grant through the Alabama Department of Community Affairs. The amount of the grant is $400,000 with the county responsible for $25,000 for in-kind services.

donated $1,000 to the City of Goodwater, which will be used for renovations and upgrades to the city’s senior citizen center.

awarded the bid to install a new roof at the Weogufka lunchroom to Isbell Construction for $22,110, provided it meets all of the project requirements.

allowed Sheriff Terry Wilson to purchase a vehicle, which will replace one the department’s wrecked cars. It was approved with the stipulation that the car doesn’t exceed the amount of the insurance check.

declared the jail’s old washing machine surplus and donated it to Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett to help his department repair its washing machine.

made its annual payment of $14,651 for public transportation.

changed the county’s phone maintenance contract from AT&T to CenturyLinc for just over $2,100.