The Oconee County Board of Education is preparing to put a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot for a new Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST).
The current ELOST does not expire until the end of 2027, so a new tax, if approved by voters in November, would not take effect on Jan. 1 of 2028.
Voters approved the current ELOST in March of 2021 to take effect on Jan. 1 of 2023, and the Board in June of 2021 borrowed just less than $43 million against the future revenue from the just approved ELOST to begin the massive construction program that included the new Dove Creek Middle School and the Instructional Support Center.
The Board has not publicly discussed the planned November tax referendum, so it isn’t known what projects will be covered by any new tax. The Board told the state Department of Education in March that its top construction priorities were expansion of both of the system’s two high schools.
The Board’s plans for the November referendum came to light in the Friday meeting of the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration. Elections and Registration Director Sharon Gregg told the Board she had been contacted by the Board about a possible election but she did not have further details.
Board Member Brock Toole confirmed on Saturday that the request of Gregg was a first step to put an ELOST referendum on the November ballot.
In other action at the short Friday meeting, the Board of Elections and Registration certified the results of the July 15 Democratic Party runoff for the party’s nominee for District 3 on the state Public Service Commission.
Gregg also reported that the Secretary of State had identified 987 Oconee County voters to be challenged and possibly purged from the county’s voters list and 393 who will be declared inactive if they do not respond to a letter requesting information from them.
ELOST Referendum
Gregg told the Board of Elections and Registration near the end of the meeting on Friday that “we had an inquiry from the School Board that they are possibly looking at a special election in November.”
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| Gregg 7/18/2025 |
Gregg said she would need the paperwork from the Board of Education by August 22 and that the Board of Elections and Registration then would have to meet to vote to call the election.
She recommended, and the Board approved, cancelling its Aug. 4 scheduled meeting. The Board would then be on call to meet after Aug. 22 to vote on the request, she said.
After the meeting Gregg told me she had been contacted by Peter Adams, Chief Financial Officer for Oconee County Schools by telephone in late June.
Gregg said in a subsequent email on Friday that “I emailed Mr. Adams the information he called and requested. I gave him the date I would need ballot information submitted by and the code section on when the call would need to be made.”
“I informed him that I need to send the call to The (Oconee) Enterprise by September 25 to run in the October 2 edition of the paper,” she wrote. The Enterprise is the county's legal organ.
“The title of the email is Referendum Info,” she said. “The email was sent on June 24th so it was after the June Election when he inquired.” That election was on June 17.
I contacted Board Member Toole on Saturday after having been unsuccessful in reaching Board Chair Michael Ransom after the Friday meeting.
Toole told me he could confirm that inquiry by Adams was about putting ELOST on the November ballot and that the plans were going forward.
Next Step
The Oconee County Board of Education has scheduled meetings on Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 and could vote to make the request for an ELOST referendum at either of those meetings. ELOST is a 1 percent sales tax.
Turnout in November is likely to be light, as the ballot will contain only District 2 and District 3 Public Service Commission statewide races for most voters in the county.
Qualifying for Mayor and Council races in Bishop and Watkinsville and for Council races in North High Shoals is Aug. 18 to 20, so voters in those cities could have city races on the ballots if more than one candidate qualifies.
Bogart handles it own elections, since voters live in both Oconee and Clarke counties, and the ballot for those elections is separate from the ballot for county races.
The Board put the current ELOST, referred to as ELOST VI, on the ballot in March of 2021, though ELOST V did not expire until the end of 2022.
No other local issue was on the ballot for that election, and turnout was very low.
Voter Challenges
Gregg told the Elections and Registratation Board that the state is doing list maintenance and on July the 10 had mailed out notices to 987 Oconee County inactive voters with whom her office has had no contact through two General Elections.
"They're sent a confirmation notice,” Gregg said, “and if they do not respond in 30 days, they're then moved from inactive to cancel in the system.”
The second group, made up of 393 voters, “are active currently in our system,” Gregg said, “but they've had no contact with us in five years.”
“So they've not voted,” she said. “They've not updated their information or signed a petition.”
“These voters are sent a confirmation notice,” she said, “and if they do not respond within 30 days. They are moved to inactive status.”
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on July 10 that he was sending cancellation mailers to 477,883 voters in the state who have been inactive for the November 2022 and November 2024 General Elections.
Going into the July 17 Democratic Party runoff, Oconee County had 32,553 Active voters and another 1,960 voters who were Inactive, for a total of 34,513 eligible votes.
The Board on Friday certified the election results for the July 15 Democratic Party runnoff, in which Peter Hubbard received 79.1 percent of the vote to 20.9 percent for Keisha Sean Waites.
Across the state, the unofficial results had Hubbard with 58.2 percent of the vote to 41.8 percent for Waites.
Hubbard will meet incumbent Republican Fitz Johnson in November.
Video
The video below is of the meeting of the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration.
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