Superintendent, council members make pitch to community groups for lid bill exemption

With three weeks until the 2018 elections, Homewood City Schools Superintendent Bill Cleveland and members of the Homewood City Council are meeting with community groups to urge them to vote in favor of Local Amendment 1, which will be at the bottom of the ballots.

Local Amendment 1 is the lid bill exemption that Homewood's city government and school system have been pursuing since 2016. The exemption would remove the "lid" on Homewood's property tax rate, though an increase in ad valorem property tax rates is only possible through a citywide referendum.

Property tax funds go toward the school system's budget.

Since the exemption requires an amendment to the state constitution, it must be approved at the ballot box before it goes into effect. Local Amendment 1 will appear on Jefferson County ballots.

Cleveland and council members have been meeting with PTO parents, among others, to explain why they feel the exemption is needed and encourage residents not only to vote "Yes," but also to let their friends outside of Homewood know why the amendment is important.

“Homewood makes up about 3 percent of the electorate that will vote. … There is a lot left out there,” Ward 4 Councilor Alex Wyatt told the Homewood Middle School PTO on Oct. 16.

“We need them to vote yes on this,” Cleveland said.

Both Cleveland and Wyatt said there are currently no plans to ask for a city vote on raising property taxes. Cleveland said that the school system's revenue from property and sales tax is currently strong, but sales tax revenue is trending downward nationwide due to the increase in online shopping.

The day may come, he said, when the school system no longer has enough revenue to support its needs, and at that point the city can set a vote to let residents decide whether to change their property tax rates.

“The only entity that can raise property tax is the citizens. That’s how Alabama law works,” Wyatt said.

Cleveland said he's less concerned with the outcome of any future property tax vote and more concerned about having the option for the city to choose. Homewood's property tax has been constrained at its current rate by the lid bill for about 16 years.

“They can say yes or they can say no at that time [of a citywide property tax referendum]. I don’t really care. What I care about now is we don’t even have the power to ask you," Cleveland said.

Homewood City Schools has created a website for those who want to learn more about why they are asking for the exemption, yolojeffco.com. It also includes a sample ballot for voters to view prior to Nov. 6.

Voters should know there will also be a State Amendment 1 on the ballot, but this is different from Local Amendment 1 and will not mention or be related to Homewood.