Montgomery County voters will decide fate of property tax for schools in 2024
Registered voters in Montgomery County will get to decide next fall whether they want to renew the 2004 property tax that has been bringing $10.5-$11 million into Montgomery Public Schools for the last two decades.
Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education called for a special board meeting on Monday afternoon to get an ad valorem tax renewal placed on local ballots in 2024. At the recommendation of Superintendent Melvin Brown, the resolution passed with a 5-1 vote.
According to multiple board members, these funds are mostly used to cover the salaries of MPS employees.
MPS Chief School Finance Officer Arthur Watts emphasized to the board and the public on Monday that this tax renewal that will be up for a vote in 2024 is completely separate from the ad valorem tax increase that the community supported in 2020.
"I hate that you will have some folks that try to confuse this tax with the vote that took place a few years ago," Watts said. "Montgomery has been funded the least amount in the state of Alabama, so to say that this is 'additional monies,' I just don't think that that is a fair assessment."
When recommending that the board approve the resolution, Superintendent Brown said the school district has been underfunded since 2004, when this tax was first approved.
"This, again I just want to stress, is a renewal of monies that are already in the coffers, that have already been deployed for student advocacy in order to provide resources for the district and move forward," Brown said.
The only board member not to vote in favor of placing the tax renewal on the 2024 ballot was District 1 representative Lesa Keith. She said she simply didn't have enough information to vote on the matter.
"I hope nobody thinks that I'm trying to stop or play around thinking this is extra," Keith said. "If I have an objective tonight, the objective is to say that the board (needs) an attorney that we have wanted, so that I can go or we can go to any time we have a problem. Maybe this will get somebody's attention, at least me not voting."
The board does not currently have its own attorney, and Keith said she and other board members have wanted to hire one for a long time.
"We will work on that other issue. That's a promise," Board President Brenda DeRamus-Coleman said. "But one of the things that I'd like to say — and this is not entering into debate, it's just a fact — if we do not move forward, we are looking at taking our district backwards, from what I heard $10.5-$11 million."
Other board members also spoke up before voting on the matter.
District 5's Pamela Cloud said she had no idea what the exact plans were for the ad valorem tax, but the bottom line for her was student achievement. District 7's Arica Watkins-Smith said the tax renewal is an opportunity to "keep the ball rolling in a good direction," and District 2's Pamela Portis said MPS "can't afford not to put this money in place."
With most board members landing on the same decision to vote in favor, the ad valorem tax renewal will now officially appear on the 2024 ballot.
Hadley Hitson covers children's health, education and welfare for the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery school board puts tax renewal on the 2024 ballot
