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BESSEMER, Alabama — Bessemer residents will head to the polls in September to vote on a property tax renewal that would continue to fund the city school system at the same level.

The Bessemer City Council has set Sept. 27 as election day for voters to decide whether to renew a 4.7 mill property tax that is set to expire in October. The 4.7 mill property tax was enacted in May 1982.

Bessemer City Schools finance chief Willie Davis said the 4.7 mills generates about $1.2 million a year, which amounts to about 4 percent of the school system’s nearly $30 million in projected revenues in its fiscal 2011 general fund. The school system receives the bulk of its revenues — $20.6 million this year — from the state, plus $2.1 million in federal funding and a total of $6.5 million in local funding, which includes the 4.7 mills of property taxes. The Bessemer school system receives a total of 28 mills in property taxes, and only 4.7 mills is up for renewal.

Bessemer school officials began discussions on the tax renewal last year and had initially planned to put the renewal up for a vote alongside the Bessemer municipal elections this past October. But officials decided against pushing the vote last year to allow more time to educate the public about the tax renewal.

Bessemer City Schools Superintendent Fred Primm II said the system plans to hold a town hall meeting to inform the public about the tax renewal vote. A date for that meeting should be set by the end of this month, he said.

In May, voters in Fairfield voted overwhelmingly voted to renew a 15 mill property tax that funds that city’s school system. In February, Shelby County residents voted to renew 30 mills in property taxes designated for their school system.

The 4.7 mill property tax up for renewal in Bessemer costs the owner of a $100,000 home $47 a year.

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