Douglas County Georgia – March 7, 2007: The tax group, Douglas County Taxpayers Coalition (DCTC) said today it plans to challenge the ballot language of the March 20 General Obligation School Bond Referendum for $150 million.

James Bell, director of DCTC, said the ballot language may be illegal because it offers opinion and panders to a specific group of voters to vote “yes” rather than asking the bond question out right. Bell said contrary to the ballot language there have been no “revenue shortfalls”. In fact revenues have been at an all time record high.

“We are concerned that the Douglas County Board of Education has stepped over the line in its attempt to sell this bond debt to the voters,” Bell said. “If this bond passes we may seek the courts opinion as to the legalities of the language.

Bell said he was tipped off to the ballot language scheme by Dudley Spruill, the school systems chief operating officer, who told the Douglas County legislative delegation in January that the use of this type of ballot language had “never been used before”.

Spruill made his comments to Sen. Bill Hamrick who was enquiring as to why Spruill was concerned that the school bond may fail. Spruill replied, “They voted it down last time, so we included some ballot language that has never been used before.”

Bell said it has never been used before because it is illegal and offers their opinion as to why this debt is needed and it attempts to sway senior voters who may be exempt from the tax. Below is the underlined language in question:

“As a result of tremendous growth in student population, mandated student/teacher ratios, revenue shortfalls caused by economic circumstances, increased federal and sate unfunded mandates, and the need for additional classrooms, educational facilities, school buses, technology and other infrastructure improvements and equipment, shall the Douglas County School District issue general obligation school bonds in the amount of $150,550,000 for the purposes of providing funds to be applied to the funding of:

• (i) the design, acquisition, construction and equipping of new schools, classroom additions, and renovations to existing educational facilities;
• (ii) the purchase of land to be used as sites for new educational facilities;
• (iii) the acquisition of new school buses and transportation equipment;
• (iv) the acquisition and installation of new computers, technology and equipment at educational facilities;
• (v) the cost of capitalizing interest on the bonds through April 1, 2008; and
• (vi)all expenses incident to accomplishing the foregoing?
  (Eligible residents 62 years and older shall be exempt from the repayment of said indebtedness to the extent homestead exemption applies and is granted on their primary residence.) Yes or No”

Bell said if the bond is approved, his group will seek legal council to consider asking the courts to throw out the referendum vote based on the inappropriate and misleading ballot language.

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