No one threw rotten tomatoes at Robby Parker when he told an audience of Madison City Schools parents that he wanted to raise their taxes.

In fact, they applauded at the end of his presentation on Tuesday night.

"I couldn't see so I didn't know if they were or not," said Parker, the superintendent of the school system who made a 45-minute presentation at a packed auditorium at James Clemens High School.

Those stage lights, as Parker alluded to, were blinding. So an incoming tomato wouldn't be seen until it was too late.

But to Parker, it wouldn't matter. School overcrowding is the reality of the fast-growing city city.

"If you don't have any room, we don't have any room," Parker said afterward. "I'm not standing up here and saying we want prettier schools. I'm saying we've got to have a place for (students) to sit down. That's all I'm saying."

Parker eased into the guts of proposing a 12-mill property tax increase by touting the successes of the school system, including the fact that no other school district in the state could match Madison's 30 National Merit semifinalists named earlier this year.

That property tax increase will fund the school system's most urgent capital needs - a new elementary school, a new middle school and additions to both of the system's high schools. Those projects come with a price tag of more than $100 million, Parker said.

"It's a big ask," Parker said of the tax increase. "Our community supports education and our community has asked us, tell us what it's going to take to remain one of America's best school systems. But it's a big ask and there's no doubt about it and we don't take that lightly."

It's no slam dunk for the property tax to be passed, which must be approved by voters. Referendums on small property tax increases failed earlier this year in Irondale and Muscle Shoals. Three years ago, a similar 12-mill property tax increase lost in a landslide in Athens, a neighboring city to Madison.

Madison, however, is among the state's most affluent cities with a median household annual income of more than $95,000 - better than twice the state's median average of almost $45,000, according to the U.S. Census. And 57.4 percent of the population have at least one college degree, according to the census.

"Everybody is coming to me and saying, Why have we waited this long?" Parker said. "Whatever it takes to keep Madison City Schools as strong as it can be, that's the comment I'm getting from people."

Parker said the school system added about 400 students since the end of the 2017-18 school year - which the superintendent equated to "another elementary school" in enrollment growth.

And such growth is not a new phenomenon to the Huntsville suburb. A growth analysis committee - which included Parker and Madison Mayor Paul Finley - reported the need for the new elementary and middle schools as well as additions to James Clemens and Bob Jones high schools.

Parker said he and the school board collaborated during public work sessions on the best path forward that led to his property tax increase proposal Tuesday.

Earlier construction projects in the school district have sapped available funds, the superintendent said.

"The credit card is maxed out," Parker told the parents who filled the James Clemens auditorium. Later, he added that the growth Madison is seeing is "not sustainable" for current school facilities.

"Depending on growth, we may need a new high school and that's something we'll have to revisit in five or six years," Parker said after the meeting. "But we know immediately, we've got to have an elementary and middle school and we've got to add on to the high schools."

The process is only just beginning. Parker announced there would be two community meetings next month for parents to provide feedback on his proposal as well as opportunity on the school district's website to comment.

If the school system believes it has the support it needs to pass the tax, it will seek a resolution in support from the city council, then present that to the state legislature. Lawmakers would have to sign off on the proposal, then set a special election for voters to go to the polls to give final approval.

"When you're completely out of room, you're completely out of room," Parker said. "And we're getting to that point."