BENTONVILLE — School district voters approved a 2.9-mill tax increase to pay for a second high school Tuesday.
The millage passed with 8,132 votes (70.3 percent) in favor and 3,429 votes (29.6 percent) against it, according to unofficial results. The second high school will be built on Gamble Road in Centerton, just south and across the street from Centerton Gamble Elementary School.
This was the third time in six years the district had asked voters to approve a second high school, which the school board deemed necessary to relieve overcrowding at Bentonville High. Enrollment there has surpassed 4,000 and is projected to exceed 5,000 within three years. Its ideal capacity is about 3,700.
The tax increase will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $60 per year. It raises the Bentonville School District's millage rate to 46.6, highest among the districts in Benton and Washington counties.