PROGRESS 2024: ESPLOST projects already underway in Murray County

Published 10:00 am Sunday, March 31, 2024

Murray County residents are already seeing the impact of an Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) they approved last November.

In January, the Board of Education approved a bid of $46,979.50 from Geo-Hydro Engineers of Kennesaw for construction material testing services for a new gym at Murray County High School. This will include the testing of soil as well as materials used in the construction of the gym project, such as concrete, steel, soil and asphalt.

The gym will be built beside the old gym at 1001 Green Road. The new gym is expected to have 1,800 seats, as opposed to the roughly 1,100 the current gym has.

The gym will also include a state-of-the-art band room.

The gym is one of the primary projects funded by the ESPLOST that will last five years or until $55 million is collected. An ESPLOST is a 1% sales tax on most goods sold in the county that the school system can use for capital projects.

Other projects include improvements to North Murray High School athletics facilities such as an indoor hitting facility for the school’s baseball and softball teams and renovations to Murray County High’s building as well as continuing renovation of Northwest Elementary School, which was severely damaged by a 2020 tornado, and renovation of the old rock agriculture building.

This ESPLOST will begin when the current ESPLOST ends. The current ESPLOST will continue until July 1, 2027, or until $25.5 million is collected. School officials said they expect to reach the maximum in early 2025. Projects that SPLOST has funded include a new track at Murray County High School and improvements at the school’s stadium, renovations of Gladden Middle School and Northwest Elementary School, and tennis courts and lights at North Murray High School.