School board races, tax increases are on the ballot
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Early voting for next week's election (yes, there's an election) starts Tuesday.
🏫 State of play: A handful of school districts in NWA have school board elections and millage rate increases on the ballot starting today. Election Day is May 13.
💰 Zoom in: If you live in the Farmington, Greenland or Prairie Grove school districts, you have tax increases to consider. The school districts are requesting millage rate increases of:
- Four mills for a total of 44.1 mills in Farmington.
- Two mills for a total of 41.1 mills in Greenland.
- Four mills for a total of 44.6 mills in Prairie Grove.
🏡 How it works: For every one mill increase, you will pay $20 more per year in property taxes per $100,000 that your property is worth.
- A mill is equal to $1 of property tax for each $1,000 of assessed value. The assessed value of property in Arkansas is 20% of its market value, according to Washington County.
🧑💼 Contested school board races include:
- Rogers, Zone 5 — Elizabeth-Ann "Liz" Lee vs. David Regan vs. Jessica L. Thompson
- Springdale, Zone 5 — Incumbent Izmar (Eddie) Ramos vs. Donald C. Tippett
- Gravette, Zone 2 — Matt Croxdale vs. Dani Madison
- Greenland, Zone 4 — Kayden Dennis vs. Audrey Filmore
- Prairie Grove, Position 1 — Incumbent Whitney Woods Bryant vs. Ricky Carte
🚒 Zoom out: Some Benton County voters will also decide whether to increase dues for the Pleasure Heights volunteer fire department from $40 to $100 annually.
- Gravette voters will see an option to have fire department dues included in property tax bills. This is a change from billing separately in the mail, 5News reported. The dues are $50 annually for improved property and $35 annually for unimproved property.
🗳 What's next: Check your ballot and polling places.