DAPHNE — Daphne voters will go to the polls in September to decide if the community will become the fourth in Baldwin County to impose a three-mill property tax to support local schools under plans being considered by the city council.
The council voted Monday, April 4 to move forward with a recommendation by the city Education Advisory Committee to set a referendum on the tax.
Now, tax supporters will have to present a petition to the council signed by at least 200 voters. The petition will ask the city to approve an ordinance requesting a referendum on the tax, Jay Ross, city attorney, said.
"The election, if it goes according to plan, would be approved by the voters or disapproved sometime in September 2022," Ross said at the April 4 meeting. "The school board suggested the sixth of September or the 13th of September and thereafter if it is approved, the millage would go on the following tax year."
The Daphne Education Advisory Committee voted unanimously Friday, Feb. 25, to ask the council to consider the tax. The tax would be an addition of three-mills for the next 30 years. If approved, the money would be used for education purposes in the Daphne High School feeder pattern.

Ross said that if the petition could be prepared before the city council's next meeting, the request for a referendum could be voted on by April 18. That would allow enough time for the Baldwin County Board of Education to vote on the issue at its May 5 special meeting and send the proposal to the Baldwin County Commission.
Council President Joel Coleman said the final decision will be up to Daphne area voters.
"We're not making any kind of move to make the three millage other than to go through the process and put it to a public vote," Coleman said.
Under Alabama law, residents can request that a special tax district be established in a community. If approved in a referendum, a property tax of up to three mills can be passed for up to 30 years.
Voters in Fairhope and Spanish Fort approved three-mill taxes in 2019. Robertsdale area voters approved a similar tax in 2021.
The districts are based on the feeder patterns for the high schools in those areas. Ross said school system officials are working to lay out the official district boundaries for Daphne if a vote is called for.
In an earlier interview, John Wilson, chief financial officer for the Baldwin County Board of Education, said the current estimates are that a Daphne tax would generate about $1.1 million a year based on 2016 valuations.
If approved, the tax would go into effect in the upcoming year, Ross said.
With each mill of ad valorem tax, a property owner pays $1 for each $10,000 in appraised value of his or her property. If the tax passes, the owner of a $300,000 home would pay another $90 a year, or $7.50 a month.
Money raised by the tax would be spent in the Daphne district. A district education committee would make recommendations on how the money would be spent to the Baldwin County Board of Education.