The Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) voters are being asked to approve on the Nov. 4 ballot is largely about renovation and upgrades to existing infrastructure, Oconee County Schools Interim Associate Superintendent Debra Harden explained on Thursday evening.
Money from renewal of the 1 percent sales tax also will be used for purchase of replacement buses and other vehicles in the school system fleet, she said.
And it will be used for new and upgraded technology.
The infrastructure project upgrade list being presented to voters includes work to all but one of the system’s 12 schools, including replacement of a roof section and a new auxiliary gym at North Oconee High School and roof replacement and turfing of a practice field at Oconee County High School.
Harden, joined by Oconee County Board of Education Vice Chair Amy Parrish, were the featured guests Thursday evening of the Oconee County Democratic Party, meeting at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park.
Harden and Parrish told the group that while the bond issue authorizes borrowing, they hope not to do so, that enrollment has dropped and that discussion of a new or expanded high school is on hold, and that at some point in the future the Board is likely to consider replacement rather than renovation of some of its older facilities.
Harden and Parrish spoke and answered questions for nearly 40 minutes.
The remainding 10 minutes of the Democratic Party meeting focused on plans for the Saturday No Kings events, other political activities, including canvassing for the Public Service Commission races, and community projects, including distributing gift bags to bus drivers and helping at the Oconee County Library.
Need For Renovation
Harden began her comments by working through the ESPLOST VII presentation on the system web site. The meeting was attended by 24 people.
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| Parrish (L) And Harden (R) 10/16/2025 |
Harden reminded the group that ESPLOST “is limited in what you can use the funds for. You cannot use it for salaries,” she said, and “it can't be used for the regular maintenance of the school system.”
“But you can use it for building renovations and infrastructure, which is a big focus for this one for us,” she said.
“So this is what I want the community to understand,” Harden said, “that the investment in our schools has a significant return on investment that you are making.”
On average, the schools in the system are 31 years old, Harden said, “and we've got 35 acres of roofing and 500 acres of property, and 1.5 million square feet of air conditioned and heated facilities.”
“So those all have parts that move,” Harden said, “and, like me, break.” Harden is recovering from a broken foot.
Harden noted that the county has collected the 1 percent special purpose sales tax since 1998 and is seeking voter approval of a renewal of that tax.
Project List Primary and Elementary Schools
The original Colham Ferry Elementary School was built in 1956, with additions in 1977, 1978, 1980, and 2023, Harden said.
The plan is to address water issues between two wings of the building and to resurface the activity court.
Dove Creek Elementary School was built in 2018, and the plan is to address drainage and water issues on the western playground at the school.
High Shoals Elementary School was built in 2009, with an addition in 2023, and the plan is to square off the existing cul de sac into a basketball court and to add new asphalt.
Malcom Bridge Middle School was built in 1996, with an addition in 2024, and the plan is for renovation of school lighting, floors, and ceiling, and for painting.
Oconee County Elementary School was built in 1968, with additions in 1978 and 1982, and plans are for resurfacing of the lower play court and for replacement of gutters.
Oconee County Primary School, built in 1987, will get a new HVAC. Water issues around the building also will be addressed.
Rocky Branch Elementary School, built in 2002, with additions in 2009, will have its activity courts resurfaced.
Project List at Middle Schools
Malcom Bridge Middle School, built in 2009 with additions in 2017, will have exterior door hardware and door sweeps replaced.
“The middle school, this is my favorite one,” Harden said when she turned to Oconee County Middle School.
“This was the original high school,” she said. When I was going through old boxes of stuff, I found a petition that citizens of Watkinsville circulated to protest the high school being built way out three miles away. And my mother-in-law was one of the signatures.”
“But now they want to move it out of Butlers Crossing,” Parrish added.
Harden said the middle school “actually is 14 buildings, and each one has a different fire system, a different air conditioning system. So we need to get the HVAC systems taken care of.”
“And this is not a very polite thing to talk about,” she added, “but we need a better sewer clean out so when things happen, we can get to it better.”
Dove Creek Middle School was built in 2003, under the current ESPLOST, and no projects are planned for that school if voters approve the new ESPLOST.
Project List at High Schools
North Oconee High School was built in 2004, and Harden says, “Everybody says, its brand new, but its 21 years old.”
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| Parrish 10/16/2025 |
“When we walked through this school, because I always think, oh, it is fairly new,” Parrish said. “But it looks really dated. I was really surprised. I'm surprised that my friends that had kids there didn't call me and complain.”
The plans with a renewed ESPLOST are, in addition to the renovation of the lights, floors, and ceiling and the new roof, to replace the weight room HVAC, and address water mitigation issues.
In addition to building the auxiliary gym, the plans are to partner with the athletic boosters to add a video scoreboard at the stadium, returf the stadium, and resurface the tennis courts.
Oconee County High School was built in 1992, with additions in 2010 and 2020.
Plans, in addition to replacing the original roof on the building and turfing the practice field near the student parking, are to renovate the stadium press box and add athletic storage and athletic changing rooms.
In addition, the plans are to extend the current practice field and add lights, resurface the tennis courts, and partner with the athletic boosters to add a video scoreboard at the stadium.
“We have, as the students will point out, a red roof on a blue school,” Harden said, “But the roof needs to be replaced. It's the original roof. And when school opened, we had 24 leaks going, and we need to fix the roof.”
Technology, Transportation, Project Costs
The technology projects to be funded by a renewal of ESPLOST include interactive panels, network equipment, servers, Chromebooks, laptops, desktop computers, printers, and projectors.
Funding from ESPLOST renewal will be used to continue the bus replacement cycle of 20 years and to continue the white fleet (other vehicles in the system) of 20 years or 200,000 miles.
Harden did not offer any cost estimates for the proposed projects at the meeting on Thursday, but, in a conversation at the Instructional Support Center on Friday, she said “we have what I would call gross estimates based on today’s economy.”
Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams, who joined in the conversation, said the figure was “in the $60s,” meaning $60 to $69 million.
Neither Harden nor Adams said they were able to break that figure down precisely by the projects proposed.
Bond Sales And Bond Retirement
The referendum also authorizes the Board of Education to borrow up to $12.1 million in bonds, but Adams said that figure “is really just a place holder.”
He said the figure is not based on any estimate of costs of the projects and that use of any bond revenue “will depend on what projects the Board decides it wants to go with.”
The referendum, if approved by voters on Nov. 4, will cap collections from ESPLOST VII at $86.8 million, and money over what is needed for the listed projects will be used to pay off the debt from ESPLOST VI, said Adams.
Adams said that the system is holding $13 million in “assigned fund balance” to pay off those bonds, sold in 2021, “to cover the next two years of payments.”
The payments for calendar year 2026 and 2027 are $11.8 million, according to the most recent report Adams has given to the Board.
“With the bonds being at 0.94 percent,” he said, “And we’re earning at 4 percent on our money, there is no reason to pay that bond off early.”
The Board planned to sell bonds to run through 2033 when it put ELOST VI on the ballot, Adams said. That extends payments into the next two ESPLOSTS.
At the end of 2026, when the current ESPLOST is expected to reach its cap and thus expire, $30.95 million of the $46.74 million in bond payments will remain outstanding.
Questions From Audience
“We are giving ourselves options to sell bonds” in the proposed ESPLOST VII, Harden said at the close of her presentation on Thursday meeting. “We would prefer not to.”
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| Harden 10/16/2025 |
“If we had bonds, we would be able to begin building immediately and avoid inflation,” she added.
The Board sold $42.97 million in bonds shortly after the voters approved ESPLOST VI in March of 2021. ESPLOST VI provided $39.2 million for Dove Creek Middle School, and $16.4 million for the new Instructional Support Center, plus numerous other projects, with total spending to date at $72.4 million.
In response to questions on Thursday, Parrish said the Board sold those bonds and spread out the payments over 10 years because of the interest rate.
“Typically, we don't want to do that,” she said. “We want an ESPLOST to pay for itself.”
If “new board members came in, we didn't want them to have to deal with decisions that we had made,” she explained. “We'd rather them be free and clear. But interest rates were so low, it just seemed to make financial sense in that circumstance to go ahead and do it that way.”
More Questions
In response to a question on enrollments and on plans for a third high school, Harden said enrollments are down about 200 students based on the last report she had seen. (First day enrollment figures were 259 students fewer than a year earlier.)
“When it picks up again is when we will...again consider" a third high school, she said.
“Some schools are old enough that at some future date they may want to rebuild,” she added.
“We want the community to tell us,” Parrish said about the future of high schools, “Here are the facts. Here are the costs. Do you want two larger high schools or do you want three smaller...That is up to our community to decide.”
Democratic Party Chair Harold Thompson asked Harden and Parrish “what's the cost control mechanism” used to decide what projects to include on the ESPLOST.
Much of the money generated by the sale tax is from people who live outside the county but who shop here, he said, and “You do have that free money aspect to it.”
Parrish said the Board asked the principals and the staff, “What do you think you need? And then what do you want? And you know, obviously we couldn't accomplish all of those things.”
“We’re not just looking for projects to spend this money,” she added.
Harden closed the meeting by saying “I can't tell you how to vote. I can tell you I did vote yes.”
Parrish asked those present to share the information provided with others.
Business Meeting
Thompson began the business meeting after Harden and Parrish finished and moved to the rear of the room by encouraging people to vote in the Public Service Commission race, also on the Nov. 4 ballot. He also asked for volunteers for canvassing.
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| Ely And Projects 10/16/2025 |
As of the end of the fourth day of early voting on Friday, only 545 voters had cast a ballot in the county, or 1.5 percent of those eligible.
Thompson then walked to two sheet on the wall and said “the No Kings events this weekend in Athens--there's three to pick from.”
Listed were “The People’s Tailgate, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on North Campus near the Arch and the Chapel at the University of Georgia; “Banners and Signs” from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on the sidewalk on the Prince Avenue overpass over SR Loop 10, and “Banners and Signs” from 1 to 3 p.m. at the corner of Alps Road and Baxter Street.
Lynne Ely next reviewed projects being undertaken by Community Works, a group that has grown out of the Oconee County Democratic Party that is focused on community service.
Ely listed distribution of gift bags to bus drivers to show appreciation for their work, a food bank collection in collaboration with ESP, working with OCAF for its holiday market, and volunteering to help in the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville.
Video
The video below is of the Oct. 16 meeting, held at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park in Watkinsville.
Thompson introduced ESPLOST and Harden and Parrish at 0:50 in the video.
Thompson began the business meeting at 40:38 in the video.
Harden and Oconee County School Board Chair Michael Ransom spoke to Oconee County Republicans on Sept. 22. The county Republican Party does not allow recording of its meeting, but I wrote a summary of that meeting on Sept. 24.
The Oconee County Republican Party is holding its October meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 in the Lobby Meeting Room at Piedmont Oconee Health Campus, 1305 Jennings Mill Road.
Speakers will be Steven Strickland, candidate for State Senate District 46, Ward Black, candidate for State House District 120, Bubba Longgrear, candidate for Georgia State School Superintendent, and John F. Kennedy, candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
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