Russell County, Phenix City school tax renewals pass

PHENIX CITY, Ala. (WTVM) - Russell County Schools and Phenix City Schools officials said they were relieved after voters approved renewals of both districts’ mill school taxes in the November election.Russell County’s 4.5 mill tax and Phenix City’s 4 mill tax each passed with about 54% of the vote. Both taxes failed in the May primary.Taxes have been in place since late 1990sBoth mill school taxes have been in place since the late 1990s and were up for renewal this year. The taxes appeared on the ballot for the first time in almost 30 years.“Just kind of a weight lifted off of us to know that we can go forth and continue to make gains and progress as we go forth to the next 30 years,” Paula Thompson, Russell County schools community education director said.Russell County Schools said its 4.5 mill tax makes up about $2 million of its annual budget.District changed approach after May“It made us reflect, what could we have done better? Of course we did brainstorm, we met it was we worked