Bentonville School Board buys land, sets election date

BENTONVILLE -- The School Board agreed Thursday to spend $4.5 million on three pieces of land, a major step forward in the School District's long-term facility plan.

Those three pieces of land, a total of about 217 acres, will be enough to accommodate several schools the district intends to build over the next 10 years, pending voters' approval of a 1.9-mill tax increase.

Land purchases

Here are the land purchases the Bentonville School Board approved Thursday:

LocationSizeTotal cost*Price per acre

North Bentonville106.7 acres$2 million*$18,749

Southwest Bentonville30 acres$990,000*$33,000

South Centerton80.3 acres$1.4 million^*$17,539^

^- includes $1 million donation by seller for naming rights to an elementary or middle school built on property

Source: Bentonville School District

The board on Thursday also set a May 9 date for the special election on that millage increase. It would raise the district's millage rate from 46.6 to 48.5, costing residents an additional $38 per year for every $100,000 in home value if voters approve the request.

The land purchases haven't been finalized because the district must go through an inspection period to make sure there are no problems with the land, said Janet Schwanhausser, finance director.

Superintendent Debbie Jones said much effort went into the process of finding and negotiating the purchases. In the end, the district got its top choices from a list of 16 property options officials considered, she said.

"There was a lot of discussion," Jones said. "A lot of the land owners understand they are selling it to a school district. They made some very efficient offers with us, so we appreciate their work. I think we are getting really quality purchases."

Those pieces of land include one on Bentonville's north side, one across from the Benton County Fairgrounds in southwest Bentonville, and another in Centerton.

The Centerton site of 3̶0̶ 80.1* acres, near the corner of Holloway Road and North Vaughn Road, is being sold to the district for $1.4 million by the family of Rex Grimsley, a lifelong resident of the area who died in a place crash at Bentonville Municipal Airport on Aug. 31.

That price includes a $1 million discount the Grimsley family agreed to in exchange for naming rights to either an elementary school or a middle school built there.

Paul Wallace, district director of facilities, said he'd been in contact with Rex Grimsley about the land before Grimsley's death. The family reached out to him to continue those talks, Wallace said.

Brent Leas, a board member, said he appreciated the Grimsley family's gesture.

"They need to be respected and honored for that," Leas said. "A million dollars is a lot of money. That helps the taxpayers a lot."

About two miles south of the Grimsley property, the district is buying 30 acres at Southwest Barron and Southwest Opal roads, just east of the Benton County Fairgrounds. Highland LLC is selling the land to the district for $990,000.

The district also is buying 107 acres in north Bentonville, just south of the Bella Vista border, for $2 million from the Billingsley Family Trust. The site is large enough to accommodate either a high school or a combination of other schools.

The site, nestled between West Ford Springs Road and Interstate 49, satisfies the district's longtime goal of finding additional property in or near Bella Vista, which has a growing population of students but only one school. Administrators long have sought land in Bella Vista, but hadn't been able to find a site suitable for a school.

The district has plans to build a high school, a junior high school, a middle school and three elementary schools over the next 10 years, but officials won't commit yet to where they'll put those buildings.

"We will evaluate each year before we start the design process where the greatest population density and where the need is," Jones said. "Our plan is flexible."

The board, following Schwanhausser's recommendation, agreed to dig into its reserve to pay for the land purchases. If voters approve the May millage request, the district may issue bonds to pay back what it took from reserve. The millage request includes $6 million set aside for the cost of land.

The district had projected ending this fiscal year with a fund balance of $28.6 million, or 18.5 percent of its operational budget. Removing the $4.5 million to pay for land will leave a year-end balance of $24 million, or 15.6 percent of operational dollars.

NW News on 01/20/2017

*CORRECTION: The Bentonville School District agreed this year to buy 80.1 acres in Centerton from the family of the late Rex Grimsley. The acreage was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

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