The Pulaski County Special School District would like to push back its millage-extension election by a month to distance itself from a neighboring school district's request.
A proposal to extend 14.8 existing property tax mills by 13 years to help finance school construction and maintenance was set to go before voters in the Pulaski County Special district on May 9. But then the Little Rock School District -- once eyeing a March date -- moved its millage-extension election to the same May date.
On Tuesday, Pulaski County Special's School Board voted unanimously to move its election to June 13. The special election must be approved by Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key.
The panel initially agreed last month to ask voters for an extension of the property tax to 2043. If it is approved, the district's current total tax rate of 40.7 mills would not change and annual taxes paid by property owners for schools would not increase, but property owners would pay the current rate for 13 more years.
The district is planning to use the tax revenue to help pay for a $65 million bond issue to expand Sylvan Hills High School to hold as many as 2,200 students. The high school has doubled its enrollment since the 2010-11 academic year to 1,452 this year, and officials said they expect to reach more than 1,600 next year.
The bond issue would come as the district is planning to build a new Mills High School in southeast Pulaski County and a new Robinson Middle School in the western part of the district. It would also come as the district is planning budget cuts to offset the end of $20.8 million annually in state desegregation aid.
School board member Mike Kemp, who is also mayor of Shannon Hills, first proposed to push back the date Tuesday, saying the two districts had "very, very different issues involved."
"I don't think it's in our best interest or Little Rock's either to have both special elections on the same day," he said.
The Little Rock district is asking its voters to extend collection of 12.4 debt-service mills by 14 years to build a new high school in the southwest part of the city and make other improvements. District officials had already received the OK to hold a special election in March, but later withdrew that request to fully identify each campus's improvements and the high school construction.
Little Rock's request comes after district administrators decided to shutter three schools and repurpose one as a part of a multiyear budget-cutting process because of its loss of $37.3 million in desegregation aid.
The state aid is ending for the two districts, along with the North Little Rock School District, after the 2017-18 school year. Money in that last year is restricted to building costs.
On Tuesday, Kemp said he wanted to get the special election done as quickly as possible because he feared interest rates on the bond issue would rise.
Changing the date would still allow the Pulaski County Special district to remain on schedule, said Derek Scott, executive director of operations. Officials said Mills and Robinson would open in August 2018, and Sylvan Hills High would open in summer 2019.
A mill is one-tenth of one cent. One mill is levied on an assessed value of $1,000 will generate $1 in property taxes. Arkansas counties assess property at 20 percent of appraised value, so a $100,000 house has an assessed value of $20,000. That $20,000 multiplied by the district's 40.7-mill tax rate will bring in $814 in tax revenue annually.
Pulaski County Special Superintendent Jerry Guess said he was not worried about voter turnout for a school election during the summer.
"Well, early voting will begin about seven days before the election date," he said. "That is just after school is out so we think we'll be able to capture all of the interest of our parents and teachers and, of course, we have a lot of kids that are 18, so there will be a lot of students who can vote. So, we think we can capture all that interest."
Metro on 03/01/2017