It's business, it's business, it's business

“They’re tired of their money being wasted and a poor product coming out of a school system that is a business. Tax dollars in, tax dollars out. A product that can be objectively evaluated. And here we’re doing the same exact thing. You’re saying it’s about the kids, it’s not about the tax. Taxpayers see through that. That’s not what it is. It’s about the best use of the money to create the best product.””

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon

ORANGE BEACH – When it comes to asking taxpayers to pay more taxes, that, Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon says, is always a business decision.

“It’s business, It’s business, it’s business,” Kennon said during a July 19 discussion of a Special Tax District for island schools. “It’s taxpayer dollars, taxpayer dollars. This is a bail out for the county system. All we’re doing is building buildings they can’t afford to build. No deal’s better than a bad deal.”

Kevin Corcoran is a businessman, long-time Realtor in both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. He’s also the leader of the Education Advisory Task Force advocating the Special Tax District.

“This is not a business decision, I’m sorry,” Corcoran said during the same discussion. “This is 387 overpopulated children that we’re talking about.”

Corcoran and his group are trying to put the Special Tax District before the voters. A referendum would allow taxpayers the option of voting for an additional 3 mills of taxes to fund a new high school in the current Gulf Shores High School feeder.

The average yearly tax increase on homeowners in Gulf Shores would be about $70 a year and about $104 per year in Orange Beach.

In the wake of failing countywide efforts to raise money to build more schools, on June 16 the Baldwin County Board of Education voted to allow each high school feeder pattern in the county to raise money for new facilities.

Baldwin County hasn’t built a new building since 2009 when the school population was 27,226 vs. the number of students at 31,087 at the end of the 2015-16 school year.

Gulf Shores Elementary is one of the most overcrowded with 1,037 students attending in 2015-16 in a school built for 690. The task force is looking to address facility needs in the feeder pattern district.

Kennon’s objections to the Special Tax District include what he says is the lack of a solid business plan and the makeup of the local board of trustees that he views as unfair to his city.

Kennon also says he’s tired of being portrayed as not for the children because of his business-like approach. He points to his own city’s effort to form a school system that was soundly defeated in a referendum on Sept. 23, 2014, as evidence.

He also says the taxpayers have spoken through the recent referendums countywide to raise and renew property taxes for schools that were also soundly defeated. However, the renewals did receive majority votes in the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach region.

“They’re tired of their money being wasted and a poor product coming out of a school system that is a business,” Kennon said. “Tax dollars in, tax dollars out. A product that can be objectively evaluated. And here we’re doing the same exact thing.

“You’re saying it’s about the kids, it’s not about the tax. Taxpayers see through that. That’s not what it is. It’s about the best use of the money to create the best product.”

A different approach is needed, Corcoran says, when you are talking about educating kids.

“Every time we’ve produce a chart that shows overcrowding we show the inadequate deficiencies, those are children we’re dealing with, not widgets or inadequate inventory,” he said. “This has to be approached as different from a true business perspective, because these are kids. We can’t throw back the bad ones. We can’t decide that we only want to work with the very best of the inventory and say that’s not AAA, so we’re throwing it away.

“You can’t throw a child away.”

Kennon wants half of the representation on the Special Tax District’s board of trustees because of the $6 million raised annually 47 percent would come from Orange Beach property owners. Gulf Shores would contribute 33 percent and unincorporated areas of Ono Island and Fort Morgan 19 percent.

The initial proposal called for three representatives from each city, one each from Ono and Fort Morgan and one from the county.

Orange Beach Councilman Jerry Johnson doesn’t share the same view.

“I’m not hung up on how many dollars we’re going to send and how many dollars they’re going to send,” Johnson said. “I just want good schools that our students will go to, they’ll be safe … and where they can be in a good learning environment.”