Press Releases

Question 1: In light of the circumstances described in the opinion request, when is the earliest possible time for the county assessor to split the real estate and personal property assessments between the three resulting school districts in Stone County? There has been some suggestion that the assessed values cannot be split out until January 2027. But as explained with the request, this timeline is at odds with the requirement that the millage issue be included on the March 2027 ballot, as the accurate calculation of millage depends on obtaining assessed values before the mid-December ballot submission deadline.

Brief Response: Although 2027 is the first assessment year in which Mountain View, Timbo, and Rural Special will exist as separate school districts throughout the entire assessment cycle, nothing in Act 919 of 2025 or the general assessment statutes requires the county assessor to wait until January 2027 to allocate existing assessments among the three districts for purposes of calculating millage rates and preparing for the March 2027 election.

Question 2: When is the proper time for the Public Service Commission to split the utility assessment between the three school districts in Stone County and submit this information to the county assessor?

Brief Response: The Tax Division’s first formal assessment and certification recognizing Mountain View, Timbo, and Rural Special as separate school districts should occur during the 2027 assessment cycle. Act 919 of 2025 does not prescribe a different timeline.

Question 3: Detachment of Rural Special and Timbo from the Mountain View School District was completed on July 1, 2026, triggering a direct flow of state funding, including foundation funding, to the Rural Special School District and Timbo School District, respectively. But the local tax payments collected from taxpayers residing in all three school districts in Stone County are being distributed by the county treasurer solely to the Mountain View School District. Is this a proper distribution of the local tax revenue, or should revenue be apportioned across each of the three school districts based upon the school district that currently corresponds with each taxpayer’s residence?

Question 4: How does the requirement under Article 14, section 3(c)(3) of the Arkansas Constitution apply to the creation of new isolated school districts? Does the revenue derived from a tax levied for the benefit of the taxpayer follow the taxpayer and his or her corresponding real, personal, and utility property as district lines shift beneath them?

Question 5: Finally, if the Stone County Treasurer is properly distributing local taxes, then when is the earliest date that the Rural Special and Timbo School Districts must begin receiving local taxes remitted by taxpayers within their respective districts? May Stone County discretionarily distribute tax revenue to the new school districts prior to the date that revenues must be distributed?

Brief Response: To answer Questions 3, 4, and 5 together, while the same millage rate continues to be levied on property within the detached districts until a new millage rate is approved, the revenues generated from that property must be directed to the detached district in which the property is located. Once Rural Special School District and Timbo School District became operative on July 1, 2026, local tax revenues remitted by taxpayers residing within their district boundaries should have been apportioned to those districts. If tax revenues attributable to the detached districts have been distributed elsewhere, Arkansas law recognizes certain remedies, although recovery may depend on whether the funds have already been expended.