2019 Birmingham City Election

Citywide Vote on Renewing Taxes for Birmingham Schools

All voters in Birmingham will get their vote on whether to renew three property taxes they already are paying that benefit Birmingham City Schools.

Those taxes generate roughly $27 million in yearly revenue for the school system, accounting for roughly 12% of its total budget, based on its $234 million FY 2019 budget. That revenue goes into the BCS general fund, 76% of which is spent on personnel salaries and benefits; the remaining 24% goes toward operational costs, capital outlay and transfers to other funds.

The taxes were last renewed by voters in August 1991 and are slated to expire Sept. 30, 2021. Next month’s vote would renew the taxes through 2046.

One of the taxes is for 4.2 mills and the other two are for 2.8 mills each. The total 9.8 mills costs homeowners $98 a year for each $100,000 in appraised value of their houses.