During the July 2 work session of the Spanish Fort city council, city leaders discussed the possibility of allowing a vote to create a special tax district in the city that would go to support its schools.
“This council has been kicking around the thought of doing some additional funding for the schools above and beyond what the school board is doing,” Mayor Mike McMillan said. “This would add three mills to the ad valorem tax that would be dedicated strictly to school enhancements.”
McMillan said the funds would be strictly limited to help academics at the schools in the city’s feeder pattern, but could also include helping to beef up security measures at the campuses.
McMillan said if the city wanted to move forward with a potential vote on the matter, time was of the essence if they wanted to have the vote without having to call a special election, which would carry costs of tens of thousands of dollars to the city.
“It was strongly recommended that you put it on a ballot that is a general election ballot, which would be the one facing us in November of this year,” McMillan said. “This council needs to make a decision about whether or not to move forward on a referendum for our citizens to vote on this.”
City Attorney David Conner said he and McMillan had discussed with Baldwin County Schools officials about how the potential tax dollars raised could or could not be used.
“We talked about not wanting to see them borrow against that money in any way,” Conner said. “And they agreed they would not consider bonding this money.”
Councilman J.R. Smith said he could see himself supporting such a plan.
“I’m all for this, but there has to be checks and balances,” Smith said.
McMillan said quality schools were something Spanish Fort has always been known for and he believed residents would likely support such a proposal if they knew it meant continuing the area’s legacy of academic excellence.
“There are always pros and cons, but there is going to be so many positives out of this,” McMillan said. “The big negative, it’s going to cost three mills more. But, what has sold Spanish Fort in the past has been our schools. We’ve seen a lot of growth come from the quality of our schools, and making sure they stay quality schools is something this funding can help address.”
Councilwoman Mary Brabner said she would like to see public input on the matter.
“We’re going to have to have some public forums,” Brabner said. “We need to put some serious energy behind it.”
The council will likely act on a resolution on July 16 to ask the Baldwin County School Board to request a referendum for the feeder pattern residents to vote on the issue.
