Voters to decide schools’ funding

De Queen, White Hall seek tax rise for building projects

Residents in the De Queen and White Hall school districts will decide Tuesday in special elections whether to raise millage rates to help fund construction projects on their high school campuses.

The De Queen School District is asking voters for an additional 8 mills to help replace its high school, while the White Hall School District is asking for an additional 5.7 mills that will go toward building an auditorium and fine arts center as well as an indoor multipurpose facility.

De Queen’s current millage rate of 27.3 is the lowest of the state’s 237 school districts. The proposed increase would produce an additional $18 million or so for school improvements, the largest of which would be construction of a new high school at a cost of $12 million to $13 million, Superintendent Bruce Hill said.

A millage increase for De Queen schools has not been put to a vote since the 1990s, and that one failed, Hill added.

A mill is one-tenth of a cent One mill levied on an assessed value of $1,000 yields $1 in property taxes. Arkansas counties tax property at 20 percent of appraised value, so a $100,000 house has a taxable value of $20,000. That $20,000 multiplied by the proposed 8-mill increase would result in a $160 tax increase on a $100,000 home in De Queen.

Hill said a new high school is needed to accommodate the district’s burgeoning student population. Districtwide enrollment is 5,700. When the existing high school campus was built in 1969, it graduated 80 students, Hill said. Nearly 180 are set to graduate this spring.

“Their classrooms, labs and offices are 50 years old and they’ve expended their life,” said Craig Boone, the project architect and an owner of Architecture Plus Inc. in Fort Smith. “You can only ask so much out of a building.”

Also among the list of proposed projects are a new roof on the middle school; a new physical education building and four new classrooms for primary and elementary students; a multipurpose facility that would include dressing rooms for the district’s boys and girls track and soccer teams and visiting teams; and an artificial surface for the school’s football/soccer field.

Some have expressed concern about whether the district is being a good steward of taxpayers’ money.

The chairman of the county’s election commission resigned in order to campaign against the millage increase. John Hickel appeared before the Sevier County Quorum Court last month and asked members to vote against the millage increase.

“I see too much of the funding being spent somewhat recklessly and without definitive goals,” Hickel said in his resignation letter to the county. “This tax would greatly impact all real and/or property owners, retail stores, ranchers/farmers/poultry processors etc.

“Had this ballot item been in the $14 million range and dealing with truly needed projects, then I could support it.”

If the millage increase fails, Hill fears it will be because of the proposed artificial surface for the school’s football/soccer field. The project is expected to cost about $1 million and is last on the list of improvements.

“It’s something that’s not necessary, but it would be nice,” Hill said. “I really don’t see us getting that far down the list.”

Hickel said Tuesday that he is against the installation of an artificial surface for its football/soccer field and believes modifications to each of the other projects could greatly diminish the costs.

The White Hall School District is asking voters to approve a 5.7-mill increase, which would bring its millage rate to 44.9. The difference for the owner of a $100,000 house in the White Hall School District would be a tax increase of $114 per year.

The new auditorium and fine arts center would seat 1,188, said White Hall Superintendent Larry Smith. The multipurpose indoor facility would be shared among all sports programs as well as with the band and ROTC, and more than $2 million would be used for additional workforce classroom spaces for welding, criminal justice and ROTC.

It all comes at a price of about $26.4 million, which includes $24.3 million raised from the proposed millage increase. The district saved about $2.1 million when it refinanced some bonds it issued in 2009 and will put that toward the projects, Smith said.

“Most people who look at it will tell you it’s a fairly comprehensive program that will meet lots of different needs in the district,” Smith added.

The school district has a total enrollment of 2,855, but Smith said it is losing 20-30 students each year and that the proposed improvements will likely be the last “for a long time.”

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