Correction: The Sheridan School District’s millage rate is 32.2 mills. An incorrect figure was was used in this article about voters defeating a proposed 3.8-mill increase during Tuesday’s special elections that would have funded construction of a new multipurpose building at the high school.
Voters in three special elections Tuesday in Arkansas school districts defeated property tax increases that would have funded construction projects in each district.
In the Buffalo Island School District, which includes parts of Craighead and Mississippi counties, the proposed 9-mill increase would have funded about $19.9 million in construction projects. Plans called for a new kindergarten and elementary school building in Leachville in Mississippi County and a two-story junior high and senior high building in Monette in Craighead County.
The school district property tax rate would have gone from 33 mills to 42 mills.
Superintendent Gaylon Taylor said his high school and elementary students are housed in buildings that are more than 50 years old.
Complete but unofficial results in the Buffalo Island district were:
For 353
Against 453
Hot Springs School District administrators had sought a 2-mill increase that would have raised the school district property rate to 39.7 mills. The district would have built a new multipurpose building at the high school and made upgrades in technology throughout the district.
Complete but unofficial results in the Hot Springs district were:
For 563
Against 627
The failed 3.8-mill proposal at the Sheridan School District will prevent school officials from building a 53,000-square-foot middle school and a 58,000-square-foot, two-story addition with a multipurpose area to the high school. The plan had called for the implementation of the construction projects by May 2017.
Sheridan's district property rate would have moved from 36 mills to 39.8 mills.
Complete but unofficial results for Sheridan were:
For 1,988
Against 2,407
A Section on 05/13/2015