2 districts approve new mills, 2 don’t

Two Arkansas school districts approved millage increases to fund construction projects during elections Tuesday, while voters in two other districts rejected proposals, including one with the lowest millage rate in the state.

Crossett School District in Ashley County favored a 4-mill increase to pay for a new high school building, and the Harmony Grove district in Ouachita County approved a 5.6-mill increase proposed to fund construction of a multipurpose center.

Districts in White Hall and De Queen voted down millage issues.

Complete, but unofficial results are:

CROSSETT SCHOOL DISTRICT, 4-MILL INCREASE:

For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,476 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .736

DE QUEEN SCHOOL DISTRICT, 8-MILL INCREASE:

For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,208

HARMONY GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT, 5.6-MILL INCREASE:

For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365

WHITE HALL SCHOOL DISTRICT, 5.7-MILL INCREASE:

For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .598 Against . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,240

In Crossett, voters raised the district’s millage by 4 mills to build a new high school with a media center, cafeteria and a 1,500-seat arena for high school graduation ceremonies and community events. Patrons turned down a similar proposal in 2014.

De Queen school administrators sought an 8-mill increase that would have raised the district’s millage from 27.3 mills to 35.3 mills. The proposal failed, and the district remains with the lowest rate of the state’s 237 school districts.

Superintendent Bruce Hill said he was disappointed by the result and expects to ask voters to approve a new millage proposal in 2017.

“I guess we will cut some things out and try to go back and get it passed next year,” Hill said.

He said some objected to the increase after School Board members outlined what the millage’s revenue would pay for. Plans called for replacing a 50-year-old high school for $13 million or $14 million. Had there been extra money, the school would have added a new roof on the middle school, built classrooms for elementary school students, built a multipurpose facility that included dressing rooms for boys and girls track and soccer teams and laid an artificial surface on the school’s football and soccer field.

The objection, Hill said, was directed toward the field’s new surface.

“We said if we had enough money, that was at the bottom of the list of things to do,” Hill said. “They [opponents] picked out that to yap about.”

In September, voters in Camden turned down by 25 votes a 5.6-mill increase for Harmony Grove to build a multipurpose center that contained a new gymnasium, six classrooms and a 2,000-squarefoot digital-learning computer lab. On Tuesday, the same measure passed by 57 votes.

Superintendent Walton Pigott said proponents sent out fliers and did a better job of informing voters this time.

“We definitely got the buzz out,” he said. “We did a whole lot more in getting the word to them.”

The millage also will help fund electrical upgrades to its digital-learning center on the district’s Sparkman campus.

“This will keep our students from having to travel by bus long distances to get that opportunity,” Pigott said. “This will give us longevity on the campus. I definitely appreciate the patrons’s support for this millage.”

White Hall voters in Jefferson County voted against a 5.7-mill increase that would have raised the millage rate from 39.2 mills to 44.9 mills to pay for a 1,200-seat auditorium and fine arts center at the high school, additional classrooms, a multipurpose facility for all sports, and practice rooms and storage areas for the school’s band and choir.