Pine Bluff, Arkansas – Pine Bluff citizens will decide in less than three weeks whether to approve a planned tax hike in a special election on August 8 to construct a new high school.
Sedrick Rice works for the company Our Students Our Future. The group’s main goal is to support the passage of the Pine Bluff High School millage.
If residents approve the millage, according to Rice, it might improve Pine Bluff High School kids’ education for a very long time.
“Providing resources for us to have a safe room, providing resources for us to have developed a 900-seat auditorium and also develop an arena for our student-athletes,” Rice said.
Rice claimed that building improvements can improve the educational experience for students. According to him, Pine Bluff residents will see an increase in their property taxes if the millage passes. According to Rice, a homeowner with a $100,000 home will pay an extra $120 a year.
“If you have a property value of a certain amount then you’ll be paying an increase of that amount as it goes up to that for all the houses in your area as well,” he said.
Mother of three and Pine Bluff homeowner Trammell Howell said she had no issue forking over the extra cash for a new school.
“We gotta all put in, not just word of mouth, you gotta out some money in with that food of thought in process, so know that I’m more than willing to pay that extra tax,” Howell said.
Howell reported that her eldest child received a diploma from Pine Bluff High School in May. She claimed to comprehend the value of investing in education for the future of the community.
“School is number one because you’re not going to get a family to come here that want to come here to work and you don’t have an adequate school system,” she said.
Howell claims that for five years, she has advocated for the need to rebuild Pine Bluff High. If the millage is approved, she hopes that alumni and current students would still be proud of their school.
Rice acknowledged that turnout for special elections is typically low. He expressed his optimism that the tax rise will change the next month.
If approved, according to Rice, building might start in early 2024.
Before the end of July, there will be two more town hall gatherings, according to Rice.
A meeting will take place on July 27 at 6 o’clock in Pine Bluff’s New St. Hurricane Fellowship Hall. The second town hall will take place at New Hope MBC in Moscow, Arkansas, at 1:30 pm on July 30.