These are the MSCD projects your tax dollars are funding. Take a look at what’s next
A new report indicates the Muscogee County School District is delivering on its promise to voters.
Seven of the nine completed MCSD projects funded by a sales tax that Columbus voters approved five years ago were finished on or under budget, according to the district’s report to the school board.
Columbus voters renewed the 1% Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales tax in March 2015 to last for five years or until $192,185,000 was collected for 24 capital projects, highlighted by a new Spencer High School.
Despite a $15,141,218 shortfall in the expected collections, MCSD is on track to complete all the advertised projects with 2015 ESPLOST money except a systemwide sports complex, superintendent David Lewis told the Ledger-Enquirer. That project was deferred and is among the 2020 ESPLOST projects.
Columbus voters renewed the ESPLOST in June 2020, so the referendum was approved each of the five times it was on the ballot: 1997, 2003, 2009, 2015 and 2020.
The current ESPLOST, which keeps the city’s total sales tax at 8%, is designed to pay for 22 projects totaling an estimated $189 million. It will last for five years or until the total amount is collected.
In addition to the sports complex, which is to be constructed on Cusseta Road, the projects include the consolidation of Dawson and St. Marys elementary schools into a new building to be constructed behind Dawson, as well as a new North Columbus Public Library on a site to be announced.
Lewis credits realistic budgeting, value engineering and reimbursements from state funds for the district’s ESPLOST financial performance.
From its inception, the plan was “based on a well-defined vision, effective and efficient bid processes, positive relationships with the architects and general contractors, avoiding unnecessary programmatic changes during the project and continually monitoring the projects as they progressed,” Lewis said in an email. “This is also where the Board of Education and Citizens ESPLOST Committee play critical roles in providing fiscal oversight and ensuring the integrity of vision for the projects.”
Lewis emphasized he is proud of all the projects, but he praised the “perseverance” it took to finish the Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts with funding from the 2003, 2009 and 2015 ESPLOST referendums and the “topological and geo-technical challenges of the site” for the new Spencer.
Lewis’ only regret about the 2015 ESPLOST projects, he said, is not being able to complete the sports complex due to the revenue shortfalls.
That’s why he called it “the first priority for the 2020 ESPLOST.”
‘The eyes for the citizens of Columbus’
The MCSD Citizens ESPLOST Committee oversees the administration’s progress on the projects. Retired Columbus Regional Healthcare System government relations director Bennie Newroth chaired the committee overseeing the 2015 projects after retired Universal Card Services president Meridith Jarrell died in December 2018.
Newroth co-chaired with retired Columbus Bank and Trust president Sam Wellborn the campaign committee that helped win the 2015 referendum, so she felt obligated to help ensure the integrity of the expenditures.
“When you agree to be chair of a fundraising thing like we did in 2015 with the ESPLOST, you say that you trust the system to do what it says,” Newroth told the L-E. “You’re encouraging people to follow along on a trust, and I have to say the system has not betrayed my trust, nor do I think they’ve betrayed the trust of the citizens.”
She also agreed to continue serving on the citizens committee overseeing the 2020 ESPLOST projects, Newroth said, “so I could make sure whatever promises were made, those promises were kept.”
Newroth acknowledged the economic struggles due to the COVID-19 pandemic could result in not enough sales tax money for all the 2020 projects to be completed as planned.
“It probably will be a tougher road, and I think we need to temper our expectations,” she said. “We need to have a realistic approach to what can be accomplished, given the things we have no control over. Then we have to realize that all of the things we want might not come right away, or they might not come in the order in which we anticipated. But the system has been good stewards of our money thus far, so I would trust they’re going to do it.”
During its Nov. 16 meeting, the Muscogee County School Board approved the committee’s recommended phases to implement the 2020 projects. The recommendation was based on several factors, Lewis said, such as the project’s scope, the time needed and the necessary bonding and state applications.
“Phase Two projects are typically projects that are important but not urgent and may not require as much time to complete as Phase One projects,” he said. “There are several projects that are designated as ongoing such as refreshing technology, purchasing buses, security items, musical instruments, playgrounds, kitchen equipment, etc., that routinely should be updated or replaced over time.”
Newroth has generations of connections to MCSD: She graduated from Spencer; her children graduated from Jordan; her grandson attends Fort Middle School; her granddaughter attends Carver High School. She encourages residents to communicate their concerns about the projects with committee members.
“That’s what we’re there for: to be the eyes for the citizens of Columbus to make sure that money is being spent like it was promised,” she said.
MCSD 2015 ESPLOST Projects
Completed on or under budget
- Replacement of Spencer High School: initial budget $56,000,000; final cost $53,268,196.
- Replacement of gym at Fort Middle School: initial budget $2,900,000; additional $798,247 from state; new total available $3,698,247; final cost $3,597,513.
- Virtual e-library in north Columbus: initial budget $400,000; final cost $400,000.
- Expansion of cafeteria at Northside High School: initial budget $500,000; final cost $500,000.
- Adding to and renovating Shaw High School: initial budget $4,000,000; final cost $4,000,000.
- Adding to or renovating weight/wrestling room at Columbus, Jordan, Kendrick, Northside and Shaw high schools: initial budget $5,000,000; final cost $4,893,123.
- Enhancement of Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts: initial budget $6,000,000; final cost $5,897,956.
Completed over budget
- Upgrade of Kinnett Stadium: initial budget $3,175,000; final cost $3,578,755.
- Upgrade of cafeteria and auditorium at Arnold Magnet Academy, Clubview Elementary School, Eddy Middle School and Columbus, Hardaway and Kendrick high schools: initial budget $1,000,000; final cost $1,391,382.
MCSD 2020 ESPLOST projects
Phase 1 (underway with selection of architects)
- $25 million: construct new elementary school behind Dawson to merge Dawson with St. Marys.
- $15 million: construct systemwide sports complex on Cusseta Road, comprising a stadium with an artificial field for football, soccer and lacrosse, plus a tennis complex with five or six courts.
- $3 million: enhance Jordan Vocational High School College and Career Academy.
- $3 million: upgrade Columbus Museum.
- $2 million: upgrade Stephen T. Butler STEAM Center.
- $1.5 million: add four classrooms at Mathews Elementary School.
- $1 million: upgrade exterior at Columbus High School.
- $500,000: expand band room at Veterans Memorial Middle School.
Phase 2 (no timetable set)
- $13 million: modernize Arnold Magnet Academy.
- $4 million: add to Hardaway High School.
- $4 million: add to Kendrick High School.
- $3 million: construct new North Columbus Public Library.
Ongoing (at various stages)
- $45.5 million: improve technology and technology infrastructure; construct elementary school coding labs.
- $17.5 million: renovate unspecified facilities.
- $16 million: replace outdated buses, other vehicles and transportation equipment.
- $15.5 million: improve sports facilities.
- $5 million: modify unspecified facilities.
- $3.5 million: improve campus safety and security.
- $3 million: finance bond issue.
- $3 million: replace outdated furniture, fixtures, equipment and musical instruments.
- $2 million: replace outdated school nutrition equipment.
- $1.5 million: update secondary science equipment and technology.
- $1.5 million: improve playgrounds.
