Ascension School Board looks ahead to going to voters on tax renewals in coming years – The Advocate

The Ascension Parish School Board is looking down the road at two property taxes set to expire in a few years, and it will put proposals to extend them on the ballot, possibly in 2019.

The millages, one set to expire in three years and the other in five years, pose "one of the biggest challenges we face over the next five years," Chad Lynch, director of planning and construction for the school district, said at a recent meeting of the board's Strategic Planning Committee.

A 7.4-mill property tax set to expire Dec. 31, 2020,generates approximately $8.14 million annually for the general operations of the school district, Diane Allison, the district's director of business services, said this week.

Allison said the millage has been levied since 1982. Periodically approved by voters, it's been at the rate of 7.4 mills since 1996.

Another property tax, 2.5 mills for the maintenance of school buildings, is set to expire Dec. 31, 2022. That millage, levied in 1994, generates approximately $2.75 million in revenue, Allison said.

Strategic Planning Committee members agreed March 21 that it would be best to put both property tax extensions on the same ballot, possibly some time in 2019, after the School Board elections in November 2018.

Committee members also briefly discussed turning to voters again in the future for the extension of a longtime 15.08-mill property tax for construction projects, for the school district's next big undertaking: a new high school in Prairieville.

The 15.08 mills generate about $16.6 million in revenue annually.

"One of the biggest questions I get is when is that new high school coming," Lynch said.

The new high school would ease overcrowding at the three east bank high schools.

In April 2016, voters approved the extension of the 15.08-mill tax for 14 projects that include the construction of three primary schools, one middle school and the site planning for the proposed high school.

Architects have been selected for the projects, which will be spread out over three to four years.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Ascension School Board looks ahead to going to voters on tax renewals in coming years - The Advocate