Bentonville School Board To Decide: Second High School or Ninth-Grade Center?
Millage Increase Under Consideration To Pay For Five Other Schools By 2015
Last updated Sunday, December 16, 2007 5:24 PM CST in News
By Lana F. Flowers
THE MORNING NEWS
When Bentonville School District taxpayers wake up Tuesday morning, the Bentonville School Board will have answered the $100 million question: Build a second high school or add a ninth-grade center to Bentonville High School?
Taxpayers also will know the total value of a millage increase needed to build that second high school or ninth-grade center and to pay for three elementary schools, a middle school and a junior high school to keep pace with 5 percent enrollment growth through 2015.
Taxpayers also may be asked to pay 1 mill to fund continued operations, from utility bills to bus fuel to teachers' salaries, and 1 mill to pay for technology, from security systems to computers to software to electronic textbooks.
The Bentonville School Board will answer those questions with a vote at a meeting at 5:30 p.m. today at the school administration building, 500 Tiger Blvd., across the street from the new prekindergarten center.
The community supports a second high school, according to the results of two surveys conducted through the district Web site, www.bentonville.k12.ar.us.
The most recent survey concluded Dec. 10 with 1,889 responses. Of those, 58 percent supported building a second high school while 42 percent were against it.
A millage election to raise the $90 million to $100 million for a second high school will be held March 11 if the board approves it.
Documents in the agenda packet from Beardsley Public Finance state 9 mills would raise $209.5 million, enough to pay for the second high school and other needed schools.
A mill is one-tenth of a cent. Each mill produces $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed valuation on property. A property's assessed value is 20 percent of its appraised value.
The district also could refinance existing debt and extend the principal amount owed over 30 years. It's similar to taking out a 30-year home loan instead of a 15-year home loan -- the debt payments are smaller but stretched over a longer time period.
Scott Beardsley, senior vice president of Beardsley Public Finance, said he thinks it's unlikely the school board will ask for 9 new mills, but will ask for some millage increase coupled with refinancing existing debt.
However, the school board must decide how fast the district will grow its property tax assessments to plan for the future, Beardsley said.
Rapid past growth and booming Benton County construction makes it more difficult for entities like school districts to predict growth five years into the future, Benton County Assessor Bill Moutray told the board at a November meeting.
Benton County's tax base increased 11.68 percent per year in the past seven years. The property tax base increased about 11.06 percent per year since 1990, Moutray said.
Benton County's total property tax value is about $3.94 billion today, with about 38 percent of that in the Bentonville School District, Moutray said.
Rogers property owners also could be affected by any Bentonville School District millage increase. Pricey homes in the gated community of Shadow Valley and half of gated Pinnacle Country Club, both in Rogers city limits, are in the Bentonville School District. So are homes priced in the high six figures in the St. Valery Downs subdivision in Cave Springs. The Bentonville district also includes the eastern half of Bella Vista.
Slowing job growth means population growth slowed, making it hard to predict future growth, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
Job growth in Benton and Washington counties slowed by 20 percent in the past year. The two-county area added an average of 550 jobs per month in the past five years. But this year, job growth slowed to 470 new jobs per month on average, Deck said.
"I think that you have to look at 2004 and 2005 as being significant anomalies. All the economic stars were aligned for a really hot economy," Deck said.
Construction boomed on large projects and subdivisions, creating many more new jobs, she said.
"We are not booming at the maximum pace anymore," Deck said.
Crystal ball gazing is a dangerous and inaccurate sport, Deck said, but she gave advice to those trying to predict the future, like how many schools to build.
"It's safer not to plan for the maximum growth that was seen in the past two or three years, but don't assume that everyone will roll up the sidewalks and go home," Deck said.
AT A GLANCE
History of Bentonville School Millage
Year Millage Assessed Property Value District Collections
2003 41.5 $789.3 million $32.75 million
2004 41.3 $888.2 million $36.68 million
2005 40.8 $1.14 billion $46.51 million
2006 40.3 $1.27 billion $51.18 million*
2007 40.1 $1.5 billion $60.15 million*
(*Estimated)
School districts typically do not collect all the property tax money in one year, due to delinquent tax payments and tax reductions by the county equalization board. Property owners must pay taxes in October of each year for property owned the prior year.
Source: Bentonville School District
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