GUNTERSVILLE — The five school district superintendents in Marshall County are calling for more transparency from the County Commission due to concerns the schools are not receiving their fair share of the recently enacted 1-cent sales tax increase.
The countywide tax hike from 9 cents to 10 cents went into effect in March 2023 to bring in more revenue for the school districts — including Albertville City Schools, Boaz City Schools, Guntersville City Schools, Arab City Schools and Marshall County Schools. While some systems already have new buildings and capital projects underway, others are asking for millions to start their own plans. One obstacle in the way, the superintendents argue, is not knowing exactly how much money is available now or will be in the future due to inconsistencies with collections.
Guntersville City Schools Superintendent Jason Barnett spoke on behalf of the five districts during Wednesday's regular County Commission meeting. Barnett thanked the Commission for passing the tax increase at considerable political risk and said it has "already proven fruitful" for the schools. However, he said many businesses in the county were still collecting the old 9-cent tax, cutting the schools' potential income.
Marshall County Schools Superintendent Cindy Wigley, who recently applied for an $80 million bond for capital projects, said during the meeting that monthly revenue from the 1-cent sales tax has been a "critical lifeline" for her school system.
When she first presented the tax plan in October 2022, Wigley said the increase could generate as much as $15 million annually. However, now she said it has regularly been on the low end of monthly projections or sometimes did not meet them at all "in a time where our state is having record revenue and sales tax," she said.
The superintendents proposed adapting the 1-cent sales revenue data to the Avenue software system they currently use to track other income. With this software, the schools could check the tax revenue coming in at any time and plan accordingly based on trends, Barnett said, instead of waiting for a monthly check with little insight into what goes on behind the scenes.
"There's your built-in checks and balances for that," Wigley said. "That's where the issue is that we're having, is on the collections end. … That's where we're concerned, and we want to make sure that that's correct. It's our duty to make sure that that's correct."
County administrator Ashleigh Bubbett said she met with some of the superintendents in May to discuss this issue and provided an information packet detailing the current data on the 1-cent sales tax. She said she could provide that information to the schools each month at their request.
Albertville City Schools Superintendent Bart Reeves asked Bubbett how the Commission could ensure that businesses would be in "100% compliance" with the new tax moving forward. She said it was the responsibility of the Commission and the County Department of Revenue to collect the 1-cent sales tax. They could not provide businesses' tax information to a third party by state law.
"If you have any problems, if you're thinking that somebody's not collecting right — and I've said this a few times already — you are welcome to email me with names and businesses, and I can forward that on to our department of revenue," Bubbett said.
The superintendents argued that "that's all the more reason" for more transparency. Instead of having to remember to request an email of the monthly sales tax report or check on which businesses are not complying, they said the Avenue software would take care of all that for them and the Commission.
"I think our biggest concern is, we're 16, 17 months in and we still got folks no collecting," Arab City Schools Superintendent Johnny Berry said.
County attorney Clint Maze said he would "synthesize" a solution to address the superintendents' and the Commission's concerns, which will be decided on later.
"I think there's a way to skin this cat that the confidentiality is maintained, the assurance that the taxes that are supposed to be collected are being collected," he said. "...Let me take some of this and synthesize a solution and see if we can get closer to where we want to be."
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