Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board sets special session; a look at the millage

The Prescott School Board has called a special meeting for June 6 at 5 p.m. in the high school library.

The board is facing a serious situation with regard to the districts finances. The possibility exists that the board will ask voters to approve a millage increase past the current rate of 35.1 mills. As board member Shane Meadors put it, a millage increase would create a steady trickle of money that the district could use to fund specific projects needed to maintain state-required standards.

So how does Prescott stack up against other districts in the area with regard to millage amounts?

First, its important to understand how millage rates work and how theyre determined.

The millage rate determines the amount of taxes that are collected on personal property and real estate in the county. When a person owns a vehicle, boat, ATV, trailer and some other specific property, that person is required to pay a tax to the county on that property. The same is true of real estate and houses.

Those items are assigned a value that should be the real value of the item - the amount its worth on an open market. Its important to note that the assessed value is 20 percent of the real value of that property. That assessed value is the amount that a property owner pays taxes on.

Taxes are figured based on the millage for that particular area. A millage may be levied by any of several entities, and the money may be designated for any of several uses.

Schools are typically the largest recipients of the taxes collected through millages. Therefore, the amount of taxes collected by the county in any given year will impact the amount of money the schools actually have for operations. Delinquent taxes - especially in the case of large companies - can have a serious effect on schools.

Voters approve millage rates every year during the September school election. Even if the district is asking for no millage increase, voters are asked to vote for or against the millage rate. The information on the ballot will indicate whether that amount represents an increase.

According to information from the Nevada County Clerks office, the county currently collects 35.1 mills for Prescott schools. The Arkansas Department of Education has issued a report indicating millage rates for districts across the state, and how those millage rates are to be used.

In Prescott, 25 mills are set aside for maintenance and operations. A legislative mandate of a few years ago required the districts have a minimum of 25 mills set aside for this purpose. There are only a few districts that have rates set at more than 25 mills for maintenance and operations.

Prescott school has an additional 10.1 mills dedicated for debt service, bringing the total collected in Prescotts district to 35.1 mills.

But how does that compare with other districts in the area?

The Gurdon School District is reasonably close in size to Prescott. According to information from the board of education, Gurdon has the mandated 25 mills for maintenance and operations, and has 11 mills for debt service, bringing their total millage to 36.1 - one mill higher than Prescott.

The department of education list both Blevins and Hope at 25 mills for maintenance and operations, but Blevins District is listed at 6.3 mills while Hope is slightly lower than Prescott at 9.7. The Springhill District, also in Hempstead County, has a total listed millage of 34.7.

Nevada is the only other school district listed in Nevada County and the millage for that district is listed at 34.8.

Some other districts and their millages are:

Arkadelphia at 38.9 mills

Camden-Fairview at 34 mills

Delight at 34 mills

Magnolia at 29.6

Bradley at 32

Corning School in Clay County reports the lowest mills at 28 while Fouke School in Miller County reports the highest at 49 mills.

There are some 250 school districts listed on the department of educations list, and more than 100 have millages at least as high as that of the Prescott School District.

The board voted during a special meeting in May to borrow $200,000 from a local bank to fund three immediate needs projects. Those projects were mandated by the state. Fuding for several additional state-mandated projects is among the topics on the agenda for the special meeting called for this week. The state is providing roughly half the funding for these projects.