Mike Carruth was first elected to the Walker County School Board in 2004 and never faced a vote to raise property tax rates before this year.
“It wears on you, it really does,” Carruth said in the parking lot after the final meeting on the matter, which lasted four hours. “I know the people paying school taxes, and it’s hard. It wears on your sleep; it wears on everything.”
On July 25, Carruth joined board members Karen Stoker, Phyllis Hunter and Dale Wilson in approving raising the tax rate to 17.404 mills, a 4.8% increase from the previous 16.619 mills. Board member Bobby McNabb voted “no.”
Prior to the final vote, the board held its final required millage adoption hearing to give the public a chance to comment. It took less than five minutes with no discussion. The board then went into executive session to discuss personnel issues for the upcoming school year that lasted nearly three hours.
“I know in my heart that it was the right decision,” Carruth said afterwards, referencing the tax increase.