1Rebel 1Future: Vestavia Hills heads to the polls in special election
On May 9, voters in Vestavia Hills will head to the polls in a special election to determine whether to approve a 9.8-mill ad valorem property tax increase that would fund what the city’s Board of Education and Superintendent Todd Freeman say are needed improvements to the school system.
The election will cost the city of Vestavia Hills about $75,000, which will be reimbursed by the Board of Education. The city will use Jefferson County voting equipment.
Voter Information
City Clerk Rebecca Leavings said residents should receive a neon-colored voting card in the mail before the election informing them of their voting place. A precinct map, along with an application for an absentee ballot and a sample ballot, can be found at vhal.org/departments/city-clerk/
municipal-elections. Those who previously voted at Town Village, Vestavia Hills Elementary Central, Vestavia Hills City Hall and the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest will all now vote at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center adjacent to City Hall.
The precincts are as follows:
1. Shades Mountain Baptist Church
2. Vestavia Hills Methodist Church
3. Mountaintop Community Church
4. Vestavia Hills Civic Center
5. Cahaba Heights Baptist Church
6. The Church at Liberty Park
The deadline to apply to file an absentee ballot is Thursday, May 4. A copy of a government-issued photo ID must be included with the application, which should be mailed to “Rebecca Leavings, Absentee Manager, City of Vestavia Hills, 1032 Montgomery Highway, Vestavia Hills, Alabama 35216.” Absentee ballots must be turned into the city by noon on May 9, Leavings said.
Those needing to register to vote or update their registration should visit sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/voter/register-to-vote to download or submit a state mail-in voter registration form.
Money Talk
Freeman requested a 9.8-mill increase, which would bring the city’s current total millage rate from 92.6 mills to 102.4 mills.
A mill is one-tenth of one cent, currently expressed in Vestavia Hills as 0.0926. The millage rate is multiplied by the assessed value of a home — which is equal to 10% of a home’s appraised value — in order to determine how much a homeowner owes in property taxes.
An additional 9.8 mills would mean an additional $487.50 annually, or $40.63 monthly, in property taxes for a home appraised at $500,000, around the median price of a Vestavia Hills home.
The ballot will ask whether voters want to increase an existing 25.6 mill tax by 9.8 mills for a new total of 35.4 mills. The 25.6 mill figure represents one of two special school taxes collected in the city of Vestavia Hills, with the other tax set at 3.15 mills. That tax will remain as is. The school also receives 23.3 mills from Jefferson County property taxes, for a total of 52.05 mills currently dedicated to Vestavia Hills City Schools. The other 40.55 mills collected by the city goes toward city revenues.
School officials said the new tax money is needed to pay for a litany of new programs and offerings for students, as well as numerous improvements and additions to campuses throughout the system.
Freeman said the system needs about $8.2 million a year to pay for those improvements and said the 9.8 mills should generate about $8.42 million annually.
The school system would borrow money for improvements and use revenue from the new tax increase to repay the debt over 30 years at $8.2 million a year, said Whit McGhee, the school system's director of public relations. The tax increase would remain in perpetuity for future system needs, McGhee said.
Sixty-one percent of the budget would go toward existing facility and campus improvements. The system would take out about $100 million in debt service to pay for those improvements, repaying it with new tax revenue.
Twenty-two percent would go toward education programs and another 17% toward operational costs, Freeman said. The latter two categories would mostly include personnel, he said. The personnel budget is anticipated to be about $3.2 million.
The school has launched a website, 1rebel1future.com, where residents can key in their tax-appraised home value and see how much of an increase they would owe if the measure passes. The website also includes details about the plan and a video of Freeman’s presentation to the public.
Planning for the Future
The 1Rebel 1Future plan seeks to add new facilities and renovate others, as well as add and expand program offerings, Freeman previously said.
“We have limitations on our ability to provide our students with an opportunity to learn without limits,” he said.
The plan centers on two initiatives: to invest in “profound learning experiences” and create “safe and dynamic facilities,” Freeman said.
While Vestavia Hills is highly regarded for its school system, there is always room for improvement, and the areas in need of improvement now include STEM and world languages, Freeman said. Right now, STEM classes are available for middle- and high-school students, and this proposal would add it as a “special” for elementary students, Freeman said. Specials are classes held once a week and currently include things like art, music and a day in the library, Freeman said.
“This is a meaningful path for them,” Freeman said.
There are currently five world languages taught at the high school and three languages at the middle school level. Similar to the proposals with STEM, Freeman said he wants to add world languages as a “special” at the elementary level. Teachers and course resources would need to be added for those classes, and the school system is still developing what particulars would look like.
The 1Rebel 1Future plan also seeks to upgrade the system’s facilities, making them not only safe and secure, but energy efficient and able to meet the needs of students, Freeman said. There are many aging facilities throughout the system, he said, and system leaders are thinking about spaces that will be needed to meet the needs of expanded academic offerings.
Freeman said it’s also important for campuses to be comparable to each other. While Vestavia Hills Elementary East and West have large student populations, they have the smallest gyms and don’t have the meeting spaces other campuses do, he said.
The existing gym at West would be turned into new classrooms for art, music and meeting space, with the existing Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce building being turned into gym space, as chamber offices will move to the new Vestavia Hills Civic Center. There would also be office space and community meeting space in that building as well, Freeman said.
Each elementary school in the plan would have a gym that has the capacity to expand, he said.
At Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge, the kitchen would receive a much-needed expansion, Freeman said, and East would receive an expanded gym.
At the middle school level, Liberty Park Middle School would receive an auxiliary gym. While that school has fewer students than Pizitz Middle School, it has the same number of teams and programs and needs more space. Pizitz would receive more dressing room space, Freeman said.
Vestavia Hills High School would receive the bulk of the changes in the plan and is set to receive upgrades in the areas of arts, STEM and athletics. Choir would move into the existing band space, with a black box theater moving into the existing choral space. The band would move, along with dance, into a new space, with STEM and arts classes moving into existing spaces that would be renovated, Freeman said. The band space would also include a new kitchen and expanded cafeteria and would connect to a new plaza area that goes into new arts and athletic spaces.
A new indoor facility, located in the open field behind the competition gym, would include 50 yards of artificial turf that could be used by athletic teams and the band, and it would also include a weight training area for all sports, a locker room and a wrestling area.
The proposed tax increase would be the first ad valorem increase since 1990. If it isn’t approved, Freeman said the system would prioritize how they use existing funds for needs.
If the plan is passed, the system wants to be “aggressive” in completing the projects and, while they would have to be phased in such a way as to not interfere with the learning process, Freeman anticipates a roughly four-year schedule for new construction. New programs would start this fall.