Superintendent requests increase of 9.8 mills for 1Rebel 1Future plan
Vestavia Hills City Schools Superintendent Todd Freeman has formally requested a tax increase of 9.8 mills to fund the proposed 1Rebel 1Future plan.
Approved by the Board of Education, the issue now moves to the Vestavia Hills City Council, which must approve the request. The council is tentatively scheduled to introduce the item at the Jan. 9 meeting and will vote on it at the Jan. 23 meeting.
If approved by the council, the tax increase request must be approved by the state legislature and Governor Kay Ivey. If signed by the governor, Vestavia Hills residents would vote on whether to approve the tax increase and fund the proposal on May 9, Freeman said.
Freeman previously said he would not request a 10 mill increase, which was previously approved in 2019 by Mountain Brook voters for improvements to Mountain Brook City Schools.
The proposal would bring about a litany of new programs and offerings for students, as well as numerous improvements and additions to a number of campuses throughout the system. Freeman estimated the annual budget of the program to be about $8.2 million, with 9.8 mills generating an anticipated $8.42 million annually. That $8.2 million is what the city would pay over a 30-year repayment reschedule, the school system's director of public relations, Whit McGhee. The tax increase would remain in perpetuity for future system needs, McGhee said.
The city’s current millage rate is 92.6 mills.
Sixty-one percent of the budget would go toward existing facility and campus improvements, with 22% going toward education programs and another 17% going to operational costs.
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 $490 annually, or $40.83 monthly, in property taxes for a home appraised at $500,000, around the median price of a Vestavia Hills home.
In other business, the board:
- Approved new course offerings
- Approved a licensing agreement with One Stop Productions
- Approved a credit from the Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge field lighting project
- Approved change orders for the field house renovations at Vestavia Hills High School and the jumbotron at the high school, both of which were funded independent of system monies by the football program
- Approved personnel, financial and consent items
- Received a report on school incident reports for the 2021-22 school year
- Received a report on the conveyance of the now-former Vestavia Hills Civic Center to the Board of Education, which will become effective Jan. 1, 2023. The system plans to utilize the space for offices and has plans to renovate the exterior, Freeman said.