Editor’s Note: Two presentations were made to Prattville City Council members Tuesday night at the Doster Community Center during a Work Session meeting. This is the first part of our coverage, which focuses on the presentation by Autauga County Supt. Tim Tidmore. We will have a second part to our coverage focusing on Bradley Neave, Chairman of the proposed Ivy Classical Academy.
BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
With a one-cent sales levied by the City of Prattville about to “sunset” the question at hand that council members are trying to answer is seemingly simple.
“Our Finance Director Daniel Oakley discussed that the one cent sales tax by his estimation will sunset on July 31. We can either let this one cent sales tax retire or continue and designate to various projects or needs to the city. We will discuss parks and recreation and public facilities in the coming weeks.”
The original one-cent sales tax was levied and dedicated to reducing debt for the city’s expenditure for the High Point Town Center and improvements made to the #179 exit. The revenue generated over the years has enabled the city to be able to pay off that debt 10 years earlier than expected.
Aside from any special projects that could be included, council members have been holding open meetings to discuss funds that could be used, if the tax continues, in four areas: Infrastructure, Education, Parks and Recreation and Public Facilities. The next scheduled meeting is May 4 at 5:30 p.m. with emphasis on Parks and Recreation, for now scheduled at City Hall in the courtroom.
The one-cent sales tax brings in approximately $6.8 million annually. The city could designate this up to four departments, which if split evenly, would mean $1.7 million each. Or they could bring the Reserve Account up to $10 million before considering how those funds could be dispersed among departments or projects.
With that being said, two different school program representatives addressed the Council in the work session held at the Doster Center Tuesday night. That was Supt. Tim Tidmore with the Autauga County Board of Education up first, and Bradley Neave, the Chairman of the proposed Ivy Classical Charter School. There was no vote by the Council concerning the presentations, as this was an information-gathering event.
In this first article, we will focus on Supt. Tidmore’s presentation in asking for consideration for additional funding for Autauga County Schools. We will have a separate article concerning Bradley Neave’s presentation to the Council.
Tidmore was officially hired as the new Superintendent in October of last year and has been in Prattville since January 1. He took on the job of overseeing a program that has historically been one of the worst funded schools in the state.
“One thing that really struck me when I was interviewing for the position was the number of families that we have where the current students are first, second, third and fourth generations of Autauga County education,” Tidmore said.
He gave the council a copy of 2021 snapshot of expenses for the school system. (We have requested a copy of that breakdown and it could be included in future, more indepth articles.)
“You will see that we have a month operating budget of $5.6 million. At this particular time we have 2.31 months in reserve. At the end of this fiscal year we estimate we will have right at three (months in reserve.)
In Autauga County, funding provides $8,618 per pupil. The Alabama average is $10,092.
“If you look at the per pupil revenue source, and this is a very telling piece of information, the state average $6,568. Local for us is $1,913. So that is what we get per pupil from local revenue. We are (ranked) 109th in state in local revenue. We are 190th in state ranking as far as the money from the state. And from Federal we are 114th.”
“With a new revenue source we would be able to continue the activities that we have started. There are a number of activities that we have started since I came here in January. Some of the things that are already in place we have fine-tuned.”
Infrasture
“These are the buildings, the heartscapes, that we are using every day to educate our students. We do a phenomenal job when we have buildings that were built in 1936 and 1937. Many of you probably graduated from Autauga County High School which is now Prattville Kindergarten. Prattville Primary School was built in 1927. It would be hard to tell that these buildings are that old because they have been well-maintained. But as we get into the 21st century it is harder and harder to maintain the wiring integrity of the buildings.”
With Digital becoming so very important, more requirements are out there for building network and internet-based systems.
“Stanley Jensen Stadium is a wonderful stadium, but there some upgrades that need to be done there. Prattville High School is a phenomenal building but it was built in the 1970s. We are expected to educate children…in a building that the focus is not necessarily career tech and college readiness. There are some upgrades needed there.”
Tidmore talked about athletic facilities as well saying that a lot of improvements and upgrades are needed and would be extremely beneficial.
“We also have about 36 buses that are aging out. In 2022 we have buses coming off the list. We do not have the money to replace all of them, so you have to work with what you have got.”
Other programs such as the Pre-K program and STEM programs were also mentioned, that additional revenue could benefit.
We will have future articles on many of the programs within the school system and would like to focus on their individual needs.
We will be posting a story on the second presentation by Bradley Neave with Ivy Classical Academy in a separate article
