Voters in Chilton County will decide on renewing a trade school tax come November.
Chilton County presently levies and collects a special tax for a trade school and rural and industrial development in the county at a rate of 3 mills. That is $0.30 on each $100 of assessed property value.
This tax has been in place since 1964.
In November, it will be up to the people of Chilton County for renewal.
The tax dollars help fund career tech programs in Chilton County Schools.
“This is not an increase,” said Corey Clements, superintendent of Chilton County Schools. “This is a renewal of an existing tax.”
The tax is split evenly between the Chilton County board of education and the county.
Clements said the tax adds roughly $750,000 a year, and all of the money goes directly to the students.
“There are no salaries paid out of this,” said Clements. “There is no adult benefiting from this. This all goes directly to the students.”
SEE MORE:Southeastern Grocers awards 50 local nonprofits with more than $480,000 in grant funds
SEE MORE:Community concerns rise after bodies discovered in car, burned near Birmingham airport
The money funds 23 career tech programs in all of the schools across the county, and 13 programs at the Lecroy Career Tech Center.
The Lecroy Career Tech Center offers 420 students every year the opportunity to get real-life hands-on workforce training.
“We are looking to expand career tech education and not restrict it at all,” said Clements.
The tax has been renewed every 20 years for the past 60 years.
If the tax is voted down in November, the future of career tech in Chilton County schools is undetermined.
“In the immediate future we will be able to continue but I don’t know long term what that would look like,” said Clements. “We certainly don’t want to find out.”
Clements said the school system is in the early stages of working to fund and construct an updated career tech center. If the trade school tax does not pass the new facility plans are uncertain.
