Bella Vista will have a millage special election from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9.
Voters on election day must go to polling sites to cast their votes.
Early voting will be available at the Bentonville location of the Benton County Clerk's Office, 215 E. Central, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 2-5 and Sept. 8.
Ballot questions
Two separate ballot questions will be presented to voters: A 1-mill increase to fund Fire Department uniformed employees' pensions and a .5-mill increase to fund uniformed police officers' pensions.
The purpose of the millage increase proposal is to free up money from the general fund, which is currently used to pay the state-mandated city contribution to the Arkansas Local Police and Fire pension plans, in order to support the operation of a fourth city fire station to be built near the Highlands gate area on Forest Hills Boulevard.
By state law, the city can request up to 1 mill for each entity.
What is a mill?
A mill is one-tenth of a cent or one-thousandth of a dollar, and is levied on the assessed value of a home.
The value of real property as determined by the assessor's office is the appraised value. The assessed value is then 20 percent of the appraised value.
A home with an appraised value of $100,000 is assessed at $20,000.
Each mill levied on that property would cost the homeowner $20 annually.
Polling sites
• Precincts 21 and 25 -- St. Bernard Catholic Church, 1 St. Bernard Lane.
• Precincts 23 and 24 -- Highlands Church, 371 Glasgow Road.
• Precincts 26 and 65 -- United Lutheran Church, 100 Cooper Road.
• Precincts 27 and 66 -- Riordan Hall, 3 Riordan Road.
• Precinct 28 -- Bella Vista Baptist Church, 50 E. Lancashire Blvd.
• Precinct 29 -- St. Theodore's Episcopal Church, 1001 Kingsland Road.
• Precincts 30 and 63 -- Metfield Clubhouse, 3 Euston Road.
General News on 08/27/2014