I’m embarrassed to report that the bond daddies and those who’d poach school tax money for private businesses scored a victory in the recent legislature. With Rep. Darrin Williams as sponsor, they passed a bill allowing redevelopment districts to take others’ property tax millages for 40 years, rather than just 25. With a smaller payday because of court limitations on the amount of school money that can be expropriated, the redevelopment districts need a longer period to capture others’ property taxes for their private purposes. It appears to apply retroactively to existing districts. Nice. Does that mean the Fayetteville hole in the ground will draw school dollars for 40 years?

There’s still a chance a pending North Little Rock lawsuit will put the kibosh on municipal appropriation of money voted for schools for hotels, sporting good stores and the like. That would render this legislation essentially moot. No school money, no bonds.

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UPDATE: Now a tipster suggests this new law is actually about putting a stop to the NLR lawsuit. I’ll be checking that possibility. School people clearly were asleep at the switch on this.

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