The Pulaski Technical College Board of Trustees in Arkansas is expected to decide in January whether to ask voters for permission to collect property taxes through a proposed taxing district to supplement tuition revenue and state aid.
Trustees last week discussed a March 2012 vote, but could schedule it later to avoid a conflict with a county school-tax vote set for February.
The district could be limited to Pulaski County or expanded to include other counties in the central Arkansas region. If the district is adopted, residents would pay a lower tuition rate.
State law allows technical colleges to create a taxing district that can ask voters to approve a tax rate of no more than $1 per $100 of assessed value.
With a current enrollment of almost 12,000 students, Pulaski Technical College is the largest of the state’s 22 community or technical colleges. Fifteen of the schools have a property or sales tax.
Pulaski Tech officials said a property tax in Pulaski County would generate $6.2 million a year. Extending the taxing district to include Saline County would raise an additional $1.5 million a year.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stoddard asked trustees last week to build a culinary arts and hospitality management center in downtown Little Rock that could cost $15 million. Stoddard said the city would purchase a parking lot on Main Street and lease the site to the school for $1 a year.
