BY DAN HILDEBRAN
General manager
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—The new cafeteria, media center, and classroom suites at Keystone Heights Elementary School topped the list of projects the Clay County School District funded with the half-penny sales tax approved by voters in 2020.
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Bryce Ellis told board members during a January 4 school board meeting that of the $40 million spent so far with the surtax, $21.4 million went to the Southwest Pecan Street campus improvement.
In November 2020, voters approved a 30-year, half-cent sales tax for district infrastructure needs. The district branded the new program EdFirst.
Ellis said collection of the new levy began the following January, and a citizens committee was to oversee purchases made with the new revenue stream.
Ellis said the EdFirst committee meets quarterly to review projects and ask questions about how the sales tax money is spent.
EdFirst committee members from the Lake Region are Karen Lake and Edward “Smitty” Huffman.
The assistant superintendent said officials initially hoped to collect $13.5 million yearly from the surtax. However, because of increased consumer spending and population growth, the district collected $15 million in the first year and $17.8 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023. For the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, the district is forecasting sales tax receipts of $21.5 million.
The total revenue the district has received from the surtax now stands at $47.2 million, and total expenditures for the EdFirst tax now stand at just under $40 million.
Jeff Nelson, the chair of the EdFirst Committee, said his panel reviewed surtax receipts and disbursements made with the funds, and he appeared before the board to validate the district’s assertions of EdFirst revenues and expenditures.
“Every time that Bryce comes in, she brings in the project managers, she brings in business affairs, they all explain to us in the simplest of terms where the money came from, where it went to, and it’s there in black and white,” Nelson told board members.
Bryce told board members that the public can view the projects funded by the surtax. However, when I attempted to view the projects on the district’s website, a message appeared stating that I had to request access to the data. I asked for access but never received a notice that the district approved my request.
