By 
December 4, 2017
On behalf of the 24,000 students served by Huntsville City Schools, I would like to encourage the citizens of Huntsville to go to the polls on Dec. 12th and vote FOR the upcoming ad valorem tax RENEWALS that will be on the ballot.
The ad valorem tax is related to property tax, both business and personal, and there are four ad valorem taxes coming up for RENEWAL.
These are not new taxes, they are simply a renewal of existing taxes that we are already paying.
What does this mean for Huntsville City Schools?
The ad valorem taxes support local school district programs to the value of $37 million. This dollar amount makes up approximately 15% of the Huntsville City Schools annual budget. Losing this amount of money would be detrimental to the educational programs and offerings we currently have available for our PreK-12th-grade students.
Our community has high expectations for education and the quality of educational programs offered by our school district. Our goal is to continue to provide specialized programs and opportunities for our students, such as PreK, Greenpower, Project Lead The Way and Career Academies, just to name a few.
To clarify, the verbiage on the ballot states “FOR proposed taxation” and to be clear, this is not a new tax, this is a RENEWAL of an existing property tax.
Voting FOR the tax renewal will keep our schools at the current funding level.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the City Council and County Commission for passing resolutions endorsing the renewal of the current ad valorem taxes. Their support is critical to the success of our local public school system.
Remember, there are no new taxes on the Dec. 12th ballot, so please go to the polls and advocate for our students by voting FOR the upcoming tax renewals on Dec. 12th.
