Voting starts for Bryant school millage bid

The early voting period begins today for the March 14 Bryant School District special election.

The district, which has about 9,300 students, wants to build new or expand facilities to accommodate projected growth.

Voters will decide on a proposed 3.6- mill school tax increase that would raise Bryant’s school millage rate from 37.2 mills to 40.8 mills. The district projects enrollment will increase to 12,500 by 2025. If passed, the millage would help fund construction of a new elementary school on Daley Road by next year, a junior high school the year after that and a second elementary school building by 2021.

The district would also build a fine- arts building and a high school cafeteria, and it would create a three- year salary plan to recruit and retain teachers.

The proposed tax increase would cost the owner of a $ 50,000 home an additional $ 36 year. The owner of a $ 100,000 home would pay an additional $ 72 a year, and the owner of a $ 150,000 home would pay an additional $ 108 a year in property taxes for schools.

A mill is one- tenth of a cent. One mill levied on an assessed value of $ 1,000 yields $ 1 in property taxes. Arkansas counties tax property at 20 percent of appraised or market value, so a $ 100,000 house has a taxable value of $ 20,000. That $ 20,000 multiplied by the proposed 3.6- mill increase would result in the $ 72 tax increase on a $ 100,000 home.

Voters turned down a 4.9- mill increase in 2015 by eight votes when more than 5,200 people voted.

For the early voting period that starts today, the county will open two sites:

Benton Vote Center at 221 N. Main St., Benton.

Grace Church at 4200 Arkansas 5 North, Bryant.

Early voting at the Benton Vote Center is from 8 a. m.4: 30 p. m. Tuesday- Friday and from 8 a. m.– 4: 30 p. m. Monday.

Early voting at Grace Church is from 10 a. m.– 4: 30 p. m. Tuesday- Friday. . There will not be early voting at the church Monday.