Here is some good background below by the Orlando Sentinel's Denise Balona on the School District's history of sales tax requests, and their recent decision by the Board to NOT pursue a possible 1/4 mill (.00025% or about $25 per $100,000 of assessed valuation on property).
That was a surprise to me, because I figured the Board would cave to the unions and ask for the tax in order to make up for increased wage costs from the recent wage increases passed by the Board.
But, the Board didn't do that, so kudos to them for holding the line on tax requests for this year.
This article below also discusses some possible future requests for a sales tax increase in 1-2 years for schools. In my opinion, however, if the property tax valuation drops, then Schools should...
live within their means since their constituents have lower income and asset bases. Why should the schools be allowed to continue living at a higher rate than the taxpayers by increasing taxes. If unions demand wage increases in good years, they need to take reductions in bad years.
By the way, once again, the quotes below are about possible future maintenance problems with schools, which is always used by the unions as a stalking horse because they get the Board to increase salaries without public discussion and sound analysis of the reasons for wage hikes, then complain about maintenance to justify more tax increases. If the Board had a sound, enforced policy to set aside a reasonable maintenance fund on shools, then lived with what they had left, this wouldn't be a problem.
Matter of fact, when a new school is approved, is there an automatic added line item in the operating budget for maintenance for the schools, or do they just spend out of whatever is left after salary increases and then approved by the Board after the School is constructed?
This chain of events needs to stop. I am not fighting JUSTIFIED wage increases, but the way they go about it is to hide the information and base decisions on emotional decisions rather than any sound , public, economic analysis of facts. Until that happens, I would disagree with ANY tax increases except for impact fees to maintain a reasonable fund (which is another issue) to build new schools as population grows.
We all know the State keeps implementing mandatory costs or reduces tax funds slated for schools. If the State keeps reducing funding to schools, then the school supporters need to go after the State legislators with taxpayer support, and not go after the taxpayers.
vj
orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-school-property-tax-071810-20100718,0,4219367.storyOrlandoSentinel.com
School Board says no to extra property tax levy, weighing sales-tax proposal instead
By Denise-Marie Balona, Orlando Sentinel
July 18, 2010
TAVARES — If you're a Lake County property owner, you might get a break
this year.
The school district probably won't charge the extra 25-cent property tax
that the state is letting all districts levy this year to raise money
for public education.
But while School Board members said last week that they can't in good
conscience introduce a new tax when people are still losing their homes
and their jobs, that doesn't mean the board won't try later.
In fact, board members are already toying with the idea of asking voters
within a few years to increase the local sales tax to help pay for such
things as school maintenance, buses and computers.
Some board members said taxpayers might be more amenable to boosting the
sales tax after families' finances start to stabilize. And a sales-tax
increase seems more fair since everybody would be impacted instead of
only property owners, board member Debbie Stivender said.
"There are different options we could be looking at," Stivender said.
"And I'd rather look at that [for later] than burden the taxpayer right
now."
At a meeting last week, the School Board made it clear it has no plans
to pursue the additional property tax — 25 cents on every $1,000 of
taxable property value. That's because the district is in decent
financial shape, officials said, thanks mostly to a pot of money they
set aside last year, expecting additional cuts to state funding that
never happened.
The district is using that cash — more than $6 million — to fill gaps in
the budget for the coming school year.
State cuts capital support
But the district's finances could take a dramatic turn for the worse
after 2011, when the federal stimulus money that Florida schools
received to stave off layoffs and the slashing of programs runs out.
After 2011, districts statewide one again might face big cuts unless
they can find a new source of revenue.
Money for "capital" needs such as replacing school buses, buying
computers, maintaining school buildings and building new facilities will
be particularly low. District officials are fretting about losing
federal stimulus money as the state, for a few years now, has been
whittling the amount of money available for schools' capital projects.
Harry Fix, Lake schools' director of growth planning, expects the
district's budget for these expenses to fall short by nearly $20 million
between 2011 and 2015.
School Board members said bumping up the local sales-tax rate could help
make up the difference. And some said they'd probably support such a
move if the district doesn't, within the next few years, win some
sizeable grants or receive an increase in other funding.
It could be another year or two, however, before board members discuss
such a proposal in earnest and then they still would have to decide how
much to raise the sales tax and for how many years.
They would also have to bring the issue before Lake citizens for a vote.
Showing a genuine need
Residents have approved changes to the sales tax twice in more than 20
years. In 2001, voters said yes to the continuation of a 1-cent sales
tax that's divvied up among the school district, the county and the
cities.
That tax had first been approved 14 years previously to aid only the
county and the cities. But the 2001 vote extended the tax for 15 more
years and allowed the district to start receiving one-third of the
proceeds.
The school system planned to use its share of the money to do $82
million worth of repairs and additions at Leesburg, Eustis, Mount Dora,
Tavares and Umatilla high schools.
School Board member Rosanne Brandeburg said she thinks the public would
back the district if officials can show a genuine need for another
increase for other projects.
She added that a key benefit to upping the sales tax is that tourists
and other visitors to Lake County would have to pay the increase, which
means they'd be helping finance area schools alongside local folks.
"I don't think anybody wants to pay more than what they have to pay,"
Brandeburg said. "But if we provide people with the information and why
we're asking for it, I think a number of people would say 'I would
support something like this.'"
Denise-Marie Balona can be reached at [email protected]
or 352-742-5928 or 386-228-5008.
Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel
