The Jefferson High School track at Memorial Stadium will receive a long-awaited facelift.
The Jefferson Board of Education (BOE) agreed Tuesday night to allot $297,600 worth of SPLOST funds to resurface the track and other high-impact areas at the facility. SPLOST money can be used for projects and improvements like this but not general funding purposes.
Jefferson BOE approves $297,000 overhaul of track
The BOE awarded the low bid to Beynon Sports Surfaces. Jefferson Schools Superintendent John Jackson said the $297,600 price tag is a good deal.
“Quite frankly, I expected the cost of this project to exceed $297,000 by a significant amount,” he said. “I was very happy to see the bid come in this low.”
Jefferson High School hosts the Georgia Olympics – the boys’ state track and field meet – annually at its track facilities. Jackson feared that high school’s current track surface would have become an issue with the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), the state’s governing body for high school athletics.
“I think we’ve been very fortunate in that fact that the Georgia High School Association has not made an issue out of the surface of our track, but I think our days were numbered … You were beginning to see the base,” he said.
Several colleges, including Alabama, Missouri, Duke and Wake Forest, use the type of track surface that Jefferson will receive.
In addition to the resurfacing, the package includes striping and curbing.
The resurfacing of the track will begin after work on the football field’s drainage system is finished. Once started, the project will take 45 days.
In other projects, the BOE approved the $40,000 purchase and installation of a new air conditioning system for the Jefferson High School annex. Though school leaders expect to demolish the annex eventually, the new air conditioning system can be moved and reused.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL NAMED
In other business at the meeting, Annette Beckwith was named as assistant principal at the middle school. She had served as a counselor.
“Quite frankly, I expected the cost of this project to exceed $297,000 by a significant amount,” he said. “I was very happy to see the bid come in this low.”
Jefferson High School hosts the Georgia Olympics – the boys’ state track and field meet – annually at its track facilities. Jackson feared that high school’s current track surface would have become an issue with the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), the state’s governing body for high school athletics.
“I think we’ve been very fortunate in that fact that the Georgia High School Association has not made an issue out of the surface of our track, but I think our days were numbered … You were beginning to see the base,” he said.
Several colleges, including Alabama, Missouri, Duke and Wake Forest, use the type of track surface that Jefferson will receive.
In addition to the resurfacing, the package includes striping and curbing.
The resurfacing of the track will begin after work on the football field’s drainage system is finished. Once started, the project will take 45 days.
In other projects, the BOE approved the $40,000 purchase and installation of a new air conditioning system for the Jefferson High School annex. Though school leaders expect to demolish the annex eventually, the new air conditioning system can be moved and reused.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL NAMED
In other business at the meeting, Annette Beckwith was named as assistant principal at the middle school. She had served as a counselor.
Defined tags for this entry: Jefferson BOE
People please vote this tax down. Tell them it is our money not theirs
The Georgia Olympics is a Jefferson icon, one which brings our town recognition from every corner of the state. This event has been held in Jefferson for more than 40 years - so long that it is one of few events in all the WORLD which may still legally use the copyrighted term "Olympics" in its title.
In the time Jefferson has hosted this event, it has brought an uncountable amount into the coffers of local businesses. This is a wise investment of SPLOST funding.
Furthermore, you don't "tell the GHSA to pay up". Jefferson is one of nearly 800 GHSA members schools. If you think for one moment that GHSA wouldn't take this event elsewhere if challenged, you're dead wrong. The only thing which has kept the event here all this time is the determination of people like the late Morris Bryan and Jim Stoudenmire, Jack Keen and John Jackson, just to mention a few.
You also have to plan on what the money will be spent for BEFORE you vote to approve the SPLOST. Once these "projects" are approved AND if the SPLOST is approved at the ballot box, then the money is supposed to be used ONLY for that specific purpose. You cannot approve a SPLOST and then think of ways to spend the money.
This applies to Schools, County and municipal spending.
Might as well be the track.
I see daily use of the track, it's not just used a few times a year.
Does Splost cover Tennis Courts? If so I hope that will be a future consideration. It would be nice to freshen up everything else around the track too.
You also make a good point in that I see a lot of citizens using the track every day for routine exercise. Perhaps the football stadium and track are used for other purposes than just athletics after all?
SPLOST money isn't free money! There's no such thing as a "free lunch". Someone has to pay for it and in this case it's us and anyone who purchases something from our local businesses. We are paying for it.
These are our tax dollars that are being collected from our pockets and being spent on resurfacing a track!
Personally, I'd rather see no sales tax collected than have it collected in these hard times and spent on something like this.
We need to get mad about this and get it thru to our elected officials that we're tried of being taxed at every corner. Stop it! Enough is enough!
May be this is the only way the school can spend SPLOST money, but it's no longer okay. The system needs to change.
Now, if you want to get into a debate about sales tax vs property taxes, then I'm all for a sales tax. But this attitude that we need to spend some money because we've collected it needs to stop.
These are hard times and we need less taxes and better spending by our public officials.
I'd always go for anything that benefits kids, sports programs and the city. Like Tom said, much of the tax would come from "others" outside the county who come here to shop.
The track is not thinking of a way to spend the collected revenue. Again, as my good friend Tom mentioned, you have to have the reason before you approve the tax.
I might be wrong but don't the citizens VOTE to put the SPLOST in place every few years. It is not a tax that is imposed on us but a tax we the citizens aprove so the government has money to do projects like this. that is why different counties have different tax rates and why when you buy a car they ASK what county you live in so they can tax you the correct ammount.
I believe they can also be money makers for the city.
Gwinnette now charges double rate for out of town visitors.
For example:
Non Residents pay:
3-under- $4
4-10- $8
11-49- $10
50-up- $4
The age 11-49 crowd, paying $10 per person, per day, would really add up!