11 special elections feature millage, annexation choices
Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008
Eleven special elections, the majority of them involving public schools, are scheduled for Tuesday.
Nearly all of the school votes are to finance construction projects. Some of the proposed projects are necessary for the schools to comply with new facilities standards mandated by the state.
The Harrison School District is seeking a 2. 6-mill increase to pay for construction of new classrooms for its four elementary schools.
One mill generates $ 1 of taxes for every $ 1, 000 of assessed valuation. A property’s assessed valuation is equal to 20 percent of its appraised value.
If passed, the Harrison millage will result in a $ 52-a-year increase in property taxes for someone owning a home with an appraised value of $ 100, 000.
The project will cost about $ 15 million and include remodeling and equipping existing elementary schools, said Superintendent Jerry Moody.
The increase is needed, Moody said, to meet the state’s school facilities standards, which require updating school buildings and facilities. Harrison has 2, 895 students enrolled from kindergarten through 12 th grade, the most in 15 years, Moody said.
“We are seeing overcrowding now,” he said. “It’ll only get worse.”
In other elections: The Benton School District is seeking a property tax increase to renovate its schools as well.
The additional tax would mean the owner of a home appraised at $ 100, 000 would pay an additional $ 130 a year.
Plans include demolishing and rebuilding much of the 1950 s-built high school, renovating all of the schools and adding parking.
Plans also include building a softball field that Superintendent Tony Prothro said is needed to meet Title IV requirements.
The price tag comes to $ 35 million with the state pledging between $ 7 million and $ 15 million in matching funds. The Viola School District in Baxter County also needs more classroom space to comply with state facilities standards.
Superintendent John May said voters will be asked to approve a 10. 8-mill increase. About half the money generated by the tax increase will go toward adding 18 classrooms and a physical-education facility to the high school. The remaining funds will be used to help operate the school district. Viola has depleted its savings, May said, as enrollment has declined over the past five years by about 50 students to 410. Voters in the Bentonville School District will decide Tuesday whether to increase property taxes by 3. 99 mills to fund an expected $ 209 million in facilities needs, including six new schools to be opened within the next five years. The Harmony Grove School District in the Saline County city of Haskell is asking voters to approve a 2. 3-mill increase to build a football stadium. The same proposal failed in September. If adopted, it would raise the rate to 41. 7 mills.
Administrators at Cabot School District hope a 3. 9-mill increase will fund construction of a new Cabot Junior High North building after fire destroyed the facility last summer.
If passed, the school’s millage will rise to 39. 9 mills.
Superintendent Tony Thurman said the increase will create about $ 22. 8 million in additional revenue to be used for building the junior high, along with a new health, physical education and recreational facility, 40 new classrooms in various schools, heating and air conditioning units in cafeteria kitchens, roof repairs to an elementary school and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance of the Cabot High School stadium. In Union County, voters in the Norphlet School District will go to the polls Tuesday to vote on a proposed 5-mill increase, which would raise the district’s rate to 42 mills from the current rate of 37 mills. The new millage would go to pay off debt. In Randolph and Sharp counties, the Twin Rivers School District is seeking a 9-mill increase to fund a new school for kindergarten through 12 th grade.
The millage increase, if passed, would raise the district to 40. 09 mills from the current 31. 09 mills. The University of Arkansas Community College in Hope is asking Hempstead County voters to increase the sales tax by 1 percent, said County Clerk Jackie Ridling.
Most of the money would be used to build an auditorium and conference facility.
Ridling said the county had 100 early voters and 62 absentee ballots cast through Thursday. Crossett residents will vote whether to extend a quarterpercent sales tax for economic development.
The money sustains the Crossett Economic Development Foundation, Executive Director Mike Smith said.
The vote would extend the tax for eight years.
Since the foundation’s inception, Smith said, it has played a key role in bringing and maintaining business in the Ashley County town.
Smith said the foundation played a key role in bringing U. S. Dunnage LLC, a company that employs 65 people, to Crossett in 2003. Gravel Ridge and Sherwood voters will move another step closer Tuesday to deciding which city will incorporate the northeast Pulaski County community.
Last month, Jacksonville and Gravel Ridge residents voted in favor of annexing the community west of Jacksonville and north of Sherwood.
If voters say yes to annexation in Sherwood’s election Tuesday, a third election will be held in April in which Gravel Ridge residents will be asked to choose which city they want to join.
If voters in Sherwood’s election say no to annexation, Gravel Ridge will be incorporated into Jacksonville. Information for this article was contributed by Mike Linn, Ginny LaRoe, Kenneth Heard, Evie Blad and Stacy Hudson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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