City gearing up for library vote

The Pulaski County Election Commission is preparing for the special election that the North Little Rock City Council decided in November to schedule for Feb. 14.

The election commission has posted the ballot, information on early voting and a list of election day voting sites on the website votepulaski.net.

Voters will be asked to increase funding for North Little Rock’s library system by agreeing to raise the current rate of 3 mills to 5 mills.

Counties in Arkansas assess property at 20% of the appraised value. The assessment is multiplied by the millage rate to determine the taxes owed. A mill is one-tenth of a cent or 0.001 of a dollar. Each mill is charged against each dollar of assessed value and would therefore produce $1 of tax for each $1,000 of valuation.

A North Little Rock property owner pays 66.8 mills in property taxes overall — including 48.3 mills for the North Little Rock School District, 5 mills for the municipal general fund, and 1 mill each for the police and fire pension funds, according to the Pulaski County treasurer’s office.

A 2-mill property tax increase for the library would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $40 a year and the owner of a $50,000 home would pay an additional $20 a year.

Total property taxes for the owner of a $100,000 home would go from $1,336 to $1,376 if the 2-mill proposal is adopted by voters. The owner of a $50,000 home would see the tax bill increase from $668 to $688 a year.

A $100,000 home is assessed at 20% of its value, which would be $20,000. That $20,000 multiplied by the proposed 2 mills or 0.002 equals $40.

Early voting for the Feb. 14 special election starts Feb. 7.