Schools reach proposed settlement on Limestone tax
MADISON – Negotiation among four school districts has led to a proposed settlement in the years-old Limestone County tax controversy.
Madison City Schools Superintendent Robby Parker and Madison Board of Education President Ranae Bartlett held a news conference on Sept. 8 to discuss resolution of the Limestone County tax issue.
Parker explained the proposed settlement in three points:
* The case involved three local taxes: two $.01 countywide sales taxes and a 5.5 mil countywide property tax.
* With the settlement, only Athens City Schools and Limestone County Schools will continue to share in the proceeds of one of the $.01 countywide sales taxes. Athens, Limestone, Madison City Schools and Huntsville City Schools all will share in the proceeds of the property tax.
* Over time, the remaining $.01 countywide sales tax also will be divided between Athens, Limestone, Madison and Huntsville. However, this disbursement will be phased in over a number of years, so that Athens and Limestone do not lose the amount of their current tax proceeds.
“A settlement is a compromise among all the parties,” Parker said. “Madison City did not receive everything we asked for. No one received everything they asked for when the lawsuit began. And, truth is, there are still things we disagree on.”
However, all districts “agreed that the focus should be on the future (which is bright) and that working with each other as opposed to against each other is best for our children,” Parker said.
To finalize the proposed settlement, two more steps must occur:
* The State Department of Education, also a party in this case, must agree.
* Then, all parties to the litigation must return to the Limestone County Court seeking dismissal, pursuant to a settlement by all the parties.
Parker hopes the districts can resolve these two final steps this month.
How does the decision affect the future of Madison City Schools? “We have plans for meeting the needs of all students, but we will need your help. It is commonly believed that ‘growth is good,’ and we agree that targeted, smart growth is good. But, it is now clear that future annexation and residential growth on the Limestone County side of Madison will in fact be detrimental to our financial situation, at least during the short term,” Parker said.
“The quality of our school system will suffer if our city’s growth in Limestone County goes unchecked and no additional revenue stream is available to support our schools,” Parker said. “Approximately 2,700 of our 10,700 current students reside in Limestone County. That’s a quarter of our enrollment, and it has been increasing disproportionately the last several years.”
Madison Board of Education passed a resolution asking Madison City Council to delay annexing Limestone County property into Madison until the Limestone tax dispute was resolved. “Now that we are getting close to resolution, the board and I will continue to keep the mayor and City Council apprised about our financial situation and the impact of future residential growth in Limestone County on our school system,” Parker said.
“The good news is that we have established a City Growth Impact Committee that is studying the impact of future growth on Madison City Schools. That committee has presented an interim report that indicates we will grow out of space in our schools in the next few years with just the buildout of property already annexed into Madison,” Parker said.
“We look forward to working with this committee to establish a plan for our future that will allow us to protect the greatest asset we have in Madison — our schools,” Parker said.
“I feel a sense of relief that this matter is almost settled. The board and I would much rather use our time and energy to plan for our future and direct our available funds to the classroom than spend it on attorneys in protracted litigation,” Parker said. “The uncertain outcome in litigating this dispute made it a wise decision to try to settle.”
