TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) – The Tuscaloosa County Commission approved a county-wide vote to increase property taxes and use the additional revenue for Tuscaloosa County Schools.
Dr. Keri Johnson is the Superintendent for Tuscaloosa County Schools,. She says TCS has been getting by with the bare minimum of local financial support. But she says it can’t afford to do that any longer. Tuscaloosa County Schools is geographically the largest district in the state. It has 35 schools. Johnson says that some of them are old, in need of repairs and are overcrowded.
“We’re at the point where we’re going to have to do something about that. And we just don’t have a lot of extra local revenue left once we pay into the state foundation program from our property taxes. We need to raise some additional money to be able to take care of our kids,” Dr. Johnson continued.
Tuscaloosa County homeowners pay the state minimum of $10 million a year in property taxes. Voters will decide if they should be raised another $8 million. If approved, a home valued at $100,000 would pay $75 more a year in property taxes. A $200,000 home would be an additional $150. That would generate an additional $15 million dollars a year for the Tuscaloosa County Schools District.
The vote is set for February 14th. Tuscaloosa County Schools will host a series of public meetings leading up to the vote, to discuss the needs of the school system and how the money would be spent.
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