New tax approved in Gadsden district
Funds will finance improvements to school roads
Beginning next year, property owners in this city and Gadsden will pay an extra 51 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to pay for paving and other improvements to access roads to two San Luis schools.
The primary property tax, approved recently by the Gadsden Elementary School District’s governing board, will be collected over a five-year period to finance the project tentatively estimated to cost around $1 million.
The project comes in response to the ongoing complaints that the unpaved roads pose safety concerns and create dust in the area as parents drive their children to and from San Luis Middle School and Arizona Desert Elementary School.
The adjacent ways tax, which will be collected beginning in 2018, will finance paving of Union Street between 1st Street and 4th Avenue, and paving of 1st Street from Juan Sanchez Boulevard north to the entrance to Arizona Desert. The roads cross over state land, and part of the money from the tax will also go to purchase the right of way.
“We’ve had a lot of complaints from parents about the roads, and I don’t blame them,” Gadsden Superintendent Raymond Aguilera said. “Now we are going to do something about it.”
The tax will increase the Gadsden district’s primary property tax rate applied homes to $3.15 per $100 of assessed valuation. The Gadsden district covers all of San Luis and neighboring Gadsden, and has six elementary schools, one middle school and a junior high school.
State law allows school districts to collect a tax — known as an adjacent ways tax — to finance improvements to roads that serve as access to and from their schools. Aguilera said the Gadsden district is not permitted to pay for the work with funds in its general fund or by issuing bonds.
Once paved, the roads will be included in the city’s street system for ongoing maintenance by the city.