Ed-SPLOST Renewal Committee Takes Shape

WOODSTOCK, GA -- In November, Cherokee County citizens will head to the polls to consider whether to renew the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

If approved, the 1-percent tax is slated to fund six areas identified by the Cherokee County School District: construction, renovations, technology, school buses, land acquisition and debt retirement.

To help get the information out to voters, a 2016 Ed SPLOST Renewal Committee has been formed and its members represent a diverse background of business, civic parental and elected leaders.

These members include:

• Chairman: Buzz Ahrens, Chairman, Cherokee County Board of Commissioners
• Vice Chair: Amy Turcotte, community supporter
• Treasurer: Dennis Burnette, Burnette Arbitration & Mediation Services

Ex-officio members:

• Kyla Cromer, School Board Chair
• Patsy Jordan, School Board Vice Chair
• Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower, Superintendent of Schools
• Kenneth Owen, CCSD Assistant Superintendent for Financial Management
• Jeremy Law, CCSD Teacher of the Year

Community representatives include Amanda Arnold, Credit Union of Georgia; Patty Baker, Cherokee County Clerk of Courts; Zach Blend, Goshen Valley Foundation; Nathan Brandon, Camellia Place Assisted Living; Dan Carmichael, Cherokee County Gridiron Club; Sanford Chandler, Technical College System of Georgia; Marshall Day, chairman, Development Authority of Cherokee County; Dave Dozier, CCSD parent; Rod Drake, Georgia Power; Mark Goddard, Cobb EMC; Marlene Harrington, President, Cherokee Retired Educators Association; Lisa-Marie Haygood, President, Georgia PTA; Cassandra Hazelwood, CCSD parent; Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques, Northside Hospital-Cherokee; Clyde Holmes, Invest Financial Corporation; Karen LaFlamme, CCSD parent; Jim Maher, CCSD parent; Dr. Kina Mallard, president, Reinhardt University; Misti Martin, President, Cherokee Office of Economic Development; Lisa Norsworthy, CCSD parent; Larry Prather, Reinhardt University Football and Cherokee County Sports Hall of Fame; Bryan Reynolds, Cherokee Recreation and Parks Agency; Frank Reynolds, Cherokee County sheriff-elect; Jeff Rusbridge, Dyer & Rusbridge; Mitzi Saxon, Main Street Woodstock; Don Stevens, Cherokee County Airport Authority; Kathy Strom, president, Cherokee County Council PTA; and Jay Wallace, CCSD parent.

SPLOST is an acronym for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

The plan calls for continued use of the board’s longtime system of bonding future Ed SPLOST revenue, which has been necessary to keep up with the community’s explosive population growth. Specific projects planned include classroom additions for Woodstock Middle School and Mill Creek Middle School and an additional gym/multi-use space for Woodstock High School -- all of which are needed to offset overcrowding.

In 2001, a blue-ribbon committee recommended the use of an Ed SPLOST to build a better Cherokee County School District. Voters agreed and since have voted twice to continue the Ed SPLOST. The Ed SPLOST question will be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

For more information, visit the Ed-SPLOST website.

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