There’s been much controversy about the Feb. 8 special election to extend the county’s 30 mills of property tax to help fund county public schools.

We’ve been bombarded with e-mails, letters to the editor and comments on our website about the schools’ quest to renew the millage – both positive and negative.
It’s time for us to weigh in. The county’s citizens should vote “yes” in the Feb. 8 special election and extend the 30 mills in taxes.

First of all, these are taxes we are already paying. There will be no increase in what you pay from month to month. Your taxes will stay the same as they are right now. You’ve already grown used to paying these taxes, so there will be no change in your quality of life.

Shelby County is growing by leaps and bounds. Even during the recession, Shelby County continued to grow. Our schools have already had this need to grow, but that growth was hampered by the economy.

The We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.

Now that the economy is in recovery, this is the school system’s chance to take advantage of lower bond rates and favorable economic conditions to make the changes long needed for Shelby County communities. But school system officials can’t do so without our help. For them to be able to lock in the low bond rates, they need to be able to prove the money will be there 10, 15 and 20 years from now. If we don’t renew these taxes, they won’t be able to prove that.

Even if you don’t have children in public schools right now, this will still directly affect you. Your property values are affected by the quality of the school system. The better the school system in the county, the higher all our property values will be.

Investing in our young people means we’re investing in a better quality of life for Shelby County. Choose to invest. Vote yes Feb. 8.