Hamilton County school board attorney Scott BennettThe Hamilton County Board of Education will set up a committee to figure out how to spend what District 3 school board member Greg Martin called a “windfall” of $11.7 million in liquor tax money.
The settlement money that the school district will get from the city won’t go toward school operations, but would be used for one-time expenditures, under a motion made by Martin, who represents Hixson.
“It could be buildings, it could be roofs, it could be tech,” Martin said after the meeting. He doesn’t want the district to fund school operations with the expected six payments of $1.96 million from the city — only to be stuck figuring out how to continue funding once the settlement payments stop.
School board member Jeffrey Wilson, whose District 5 includes the Brainerd area, cautioned, “When you handcuff money like that, you just have to be careful.”
Along with the $11.7 million cash settlement, the city agreed to give the school district the North River YMCA swimming pool and 19.9 vacant acres across from Howard High School that’s known as the Maurice Poss Homes property.