Photo by Erin Nelson.
If the 1Rebel 1Future plan is approved, this area at VHHS will include a new plaza area and indoor athletic field.
Vestavia Hills City Schools Superintendent Todd Freeman has formally requested a property 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 will decide whether to ask the Legislature to set a special election so Vestavia Hills voters can decide. The council is tentatively set to introduce the matter at its Jan. 9 meeting and vote on the request at the Jan. 23 meeting.
If the Legislature agrees to set an election and the governor gives her approval, 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 approved by Mountain Brook voters in 2019 for improvements to Mountain Brook public schools.
Vestavia Hills 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 board likely 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, while 22% would go toward education programs and another 17% toward operational costs, officials said.
The city’s current millage rate is 92.6 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 $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.
