Madison County residents get ready for higher taxes.  The Madison County school board has given in to County Commissioner Dale Strong’s demand that a new high school be placed where he wants.  Strong and Commissioner Bob Harrison have both voted against the half cent county wide sales tax increase in the past, but seem to be holding until their demands are met.  This could undermine Harrison’s demands for a new magnet school in his district.

This position shift by the school board will let me find out if my commissioner, Jerry Craig, is a flat out liar.  In the run-up to the first vote on the tax Craig told me that he was going to support it.  But, he adamantly assured me, he would change his vote if he felt that the school boards were being pressured politically to change their plans.  He told me that he opposed county commissioners or city councilmen micromanaging the school boards.  That has now happened and I expect Craig to hold true to his word.

The push for the higher tax continues against the backdrop of fewer BRAC transferees than expected as well as an unexpected surge in existing sales tax revenue.  What also can’t be ignored is the fact that Huntsville city schools, which will receive under 50% of the new revenue despite nearly 80% of it coming from sales in Huntsville, have no need for the money - a fact admitted by some on the city council.  Maybe Madison County does need the money even though their per pupil revenue has increase 14% after adjusting for inflation since 2000.  Why not push a property tax increase or some other form of directed taxation paid by unincorporated Madison County residents that doesn’t place an unnecessary burden on the poor?

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This entry was posted by Brian on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 5:56 am and is filed under Education, Madison County, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.