Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle
Cody Sumners (far left) and Casey Morris (far right) during a January 2021 council meeting.
As the city of Chelsea explores the possibility of instituting a 12.5-mill property tax to fund a city school system, two council members have put together an alternative plan.
In a joint statement released April 27, councilmen Casey Morris and Cody Sumners outlined a plan that would not require any additional taxes and and would allow the city to partner with the Shelby County Board of Education to address the immediate needs of the schools that serve Chelsea.
“The citizens of Chelsea deserve to know that the taxation option being presented by the mayor is not the only option, nor is it the best option for the city of Chelsea,” Sumners said.
Morris added, “During these times of unprecedented price increases on everything from energy to baby food, I do not feel comfortable asking our hard-working citizens for more of their paycheck.”
Here is an overview of the two councilmen's proposal, as presented by them:
- No additional taxes on the residents of Chelsea
- Utilize available funds from the current 1-cent education sales tax
- Utilize available funds from current city bonds issued in October 2021
- Leverage the current 1-cent education sales tax in the bond market for improvements and renovations at the current schools in the Chelsea city limits. (The current 1-cent sales tax brings in yearly revenue equivalent to 10 mills of property tax; approximately $2.2 million per year. These sales tax proceeds could easily fund bond issuances yielding up to $30 million for school projects.)
- The schools still would belong to the Shelby County Board of Education, which would still make regularly scheduled upgrades. All additional funds from the city of Chelsea bonds would be for additional upgrades and renovations to the current schools to address concerns regarding the current facility needs as outlined by residents and council members.
- A board of residents would be established to work with school administrators to determine the needs and priorities for the schools.
- The resident board would prioritize projects for the schools in the city limits of Chelsea.
- The resident board would make a presentation/request to the Shelby County Board of Education to proceed with agreed upon projects.
- The Shelby County Board of Education would be responsible for all aspects of construction.
- No funds from the bonds would be transferred to the Shelby County Board of Education until requested for each project, when an invoice is received from the school board.
- This proposal would not require any additional tax from the residents of Chelsea and would allow much-needed facilities upgrades/renovations in a much more timely manner than the current proposal for a property tax increase.
- This would allow all funding to go toward facilities issues, which have been identified as the only issue with the schools.
- The current proposal for a property tax is primarily to cover administrative costs. This proposal does not duplicate services and allows all funding to go directly where it is actually needed.
- This proposal would help bring schools up to the expectations of the residents of Chelsea, so that when the city is in a more financially viable place, the city can revisit the city school issue and the schools will already have received the needed renovations and upgrades.
- Additionally, under the mayor’s plan, the current 1-cent sales tax would no longer be available to fund current projects like the Nick Grant program. The revenue generated by those sales tax proceeds would be dedicated to funding city school overhead and capital items.
For questions or comments on this proposal, please contact Place 1 Councilman Sumners at csumners@cityofchelsea.com and/or Place 5 Councilman Morris at cmorris@cityofchelsea.com.
