Island School System Tax Vote

By News 5

Published: Thu, March 08, 2007 - 12:03 pm

The battle over a tax referendum vote in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores moved from the beach to the bench as Judge James Reid is asked to decide whether voters will go to the polls next week and vote "Yes" or "No" to increase property taxes.

"We reacted to a letter from Dr. Hollinger that said we put the referendum's off we can go negotiate some more. WE did that in good faith and all that did was get us sued," says Orange Beach Mayor Pete Blalock.

When all was said and done Gulf Shores city attorney David Whetstone made the announcement, "March 13th we'll have a vote."

Voters in the island towns are ready. Nichole Woodard plans to vote yes. "Our property taxes as far as what we'll be paying is not that big of an increase and I think in the long run it will really help us."

Chris Childress plans to vote against the tax increase. "We're hard working people most of us in this neighborhood and we're fighting just to keep insurance, we need to address that before we put a bigger load on families."

Tuesdays vote will not decide whether the island will split from the county school system. It will decide if voters want to increase their property taxes.

"I believe if you would favor a separate school system with no tax increase, 90 percent of the people would say yes. Do you want to pay for it- That's the question," says Gulf Shores mayor Billy Duke.

It's that question voters will get to answer March 13^th.

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