Editor’s note: This story is republished with permission from The Trussville Tribune.

TRUSSVILLE – Trussville residents voted against a proposed property tax increase that would have funded three major Trussville City Schools expansion projects, according to unofficial election results released by the city Tuesday night.

The proposed 12.9 per thousand increase would have increased the tax rate for schools in Trussville to 75 per thousand.

According to the unofficial result, 5,317 community members participated in the city-wide special election on local taxes.

Approximately 2,232 voted for the proposed increase and 3,085 voted against, meaning 58.02% were against.

Ninety residents participated in the election by postal vote.

The complete unofficial election results by polling station are:

“Obviously, at this point I’m very disappointed for our students and teachers who have been put in these situations, but I really appreciate the turnout. I think it shows that our community is engaged,” Mayor Buddy Choat said after the results were announced.

“I think we got our message across. I hope we did, because obviously it didn’t reach as many people as we had hoped. But I think we have to respect those who voted and their behavior. And I appreciate the effort that everyone put into this.”

“I think we’ll wake up tomorrow morning and maybe talk to Dr. Martin, the board and myself about it and see what the next step might be,” he added.

Even though the property tax increase failed, Choat said the city and school district will continue to move forward with the three expansion projects as TCS continues to struggle with overcrowding at all of its schools.

Projects include a new elementary school at Glendale Farms, improvements to the kitchen, cafeteria, gymnasium and special education classes at Hewitt-Trussville Middle School, and the addition of a C-wing at Hewitt-Trussville High School, which would create over 20 new classrooms.

“Those are three projects that need to be done, so I think we need to consider another path, an immediate path number one, which is maybe to address the most pressing need, and I don’t know this, nobody has told me, but it looks like the high school at 106% capacity might be the first path, but we’ll sit down and plan it out and see what we need to do,” Choat said.

Trussville’s current tax rate of 62.1 is between Gardendale’s 60.1 and Bessemer’s 68.7.

In comparison, the mileage from Mountain Brook is 109, from Vestavia Hills 92.6, from Homewood 75, and from Hoover 72.6.

If approved by voters, annual property taxes would increase by about $129 on a $100,000 home and $645 on a $500,000 home.

The increase would have raised approximately $90 million in funding over the next 30 years, which would have benefited the three projects exclusively.

In 2014, Trussville voters voted 2,812 to 1,935 in favor of the $7 million Trussville school tax, which funded Magnolia Elementary School and Cahaba Elementary School.

In 2022, Trussville voted 1,688 to 292 to extend the extension.

The Trussville City Council will officially certify the election results at a special meeting next Tuesday.

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