White Hall voters asked to raise mills

School tax referendum starts Tuesday

PINE BLUFF -- Voters in the White Hall School District go to the polls beginning Tuesday to decide on a proposed 2.9-mill property-tax increase in the district.

If approved, property owners in the district will see their property-tax bills increase.

The issue goes before the voters in a special election scheduled for Jan. 14. Early voting, to be held at the Jefferson County Courthouse from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., begins Tuesday and runs through Friday and the following Monday.

On Jan. 14, voters will cast ballots at their normal polling sites at Family Church of Redfield, Jefferson Water Co., White Hall Community Center, First Baptist Church of White Hall, Central Baptist Church on Dollarway Road, and First Baptist Church of Hardin, according to Election Commissioner Stuart Soffer. Those polling sites will be open from 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

The current school district property tax rate is 39.2 mills and will increase to 42.1 mills if the measure passes.

The property-tax assessment is calculated based upon 20% of a property's appraised value. The assessment is multiplied by the millage rate to determine the taxes owed.

A mill is valued at one-tenth of a cent, which calculates to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of valuation.

For example, under the current millage rate, the owner of a $50,000 property in the White Hall School District pays an annual tax of $392, an owner of a $75,000 property owes $588 annually, and the owner of a $250,000 property pays $1,960 a year.

If the millage increase passes, the owner of a $50,000 property will see taxes increase to $421 a year, a $29 increase, the owner of a $75,000 property will have an increase to $631.50 annually, a $43.50 increase, and the yearly tax for the owner of a property valued at $250,000 will rise to $2,105, a $145 increase.

Under state law, all school districts must maintain a minimum rate of 25 mills for maintenance and operation of the district. Currently, the White Hall School District has an additional 14.2 mills previously approved by voters for debt service.

The additional 2.9 mills, if approved, will go toward retirement of a proposed 30-year bond issue of $47.55 million, which will be used to pay off existing debt and for construction of a new auditorium, multipurpose building and gymnasium entrance at the high school; for a new safe room at each of the four elementary school campuses; air-conditioning replacement at the middle school; and for constructing, refurbishing, remodeling and equipping other school facilities.

White Hall School District Superintendent Doug Dorris said the additional millage would raise approximately $25 million over 30 years and a restructuring of the district's current bonded indebtedness will save the district money.

"Of course, interest rates are at an all-time low, and that's the reason we can get so much more for our money now than we could in the past," Dorris said. "That's really helped us a lot on the interest rates. When you start dealing in bonds like that, we feel like we can get a better interest rate than we've gotten in the past."

Dorris said improvements are badly needed in the district, which serves almost 3,000 students across its six campuses.

"We're probably the only school district of our size that does not have an auditorium," Dorris said Thursday. "We have to go to the convention center in Pine Bluff, the community center here in White Hall, or ask the churches to allow us to use their facilities if we decide we want to have a band concert or a choir concert."

Dorris said the addition of safe rooms that can withstand severe weather will help enhance student safety while on campus.

"We plan to build them big enough they can have P.E. in there," he said. "There's such a huge need and we can do all of this without having to go ask for more money in the future."

According to Dorris, the interest rate on the district's current bond issue is 3.07%, and by restructuring and extending the existing bond issue, the district will be able to cover the new payment with the new construction and generate $150,000 cash flow for the requested 2.9 mills.

He said an interest rate on the new bond issue will not be known until after the election, provided the issue passes, at which time the new bonds will be sold.

"The restructuring and extension allows the District to request 2.37 FEWER new mills than if a straight construction bond was issued," Dorris said in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

If the millage does not pass, Dorris said, the existing bonds cannot be restructured until 365 days have passed from the date of the special election.

Soffer, the election commissioner, noted that the cost to the school district to hold the special election will be approximately $22,000, an amount, he said, that could have been mostly avoided had officials waited until the March 3 primary election to place the question on the ballot.

"If they had waited six weeks to put it on the primary ballot, it would have only resulted in about $500 in costs," Soffer said.

When asked about the timing of the election, however, Dorris said the district was advised that it had to schedule the millage election outside of the primary or general election.

"That's what we were advised to do," Dorris said. "Our financial consultants and our lawyers, that's what they told us we had to do."

According to Daniel Shults, director of the state Board of Election Commissioners, nothing in state law prohibits a millage election from being held in conjunction with a primary or general election.

"It would certainly save money, considering the number of polls you have [in Jefferson County]," said Shults, referring to combining the special election with the primary election. "I can't speak to an exact figure but it would definitely have saved a lot of money."

Metro on 01/06/2020

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