TAX NEWS - 
2010
Florida Tax: Polk County School Board May Put Tax Increase on Ballot
Polk County School Board members will talk Tuesday about placing a referendum on the November ballot that would ask voters to increase property taxes for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years by 25 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.
In addition, board members will vote Tuesday to continue an additional quarter-mill tax for the upcoming school year that the board passed last year. The tax for the 2010-2011 school year, which could raise about $7 million, must pass by a supermajority of five of the seven members.
This is the last year the board has the option to impose the property tax increase they first passed in 2009.
If the tax is to continue after the upcoming school year, the board must have the issue placed on the November ballot for voters to approve or defeat.
The last time voters were asked to increase taxes for schools was in 2003 when they approved a half-cent sales tax for school construction. The measure passed by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent.
The discussion about the referendum will take place at 12:30 p.m. during a work session, while the vote for the 2010-2011 school year tax will occur at 5 p.m. during the School Board meeting in Bartow.
If the additional millage is approved Tuesday during the board meeting, the board must vote again on the tax increase in July.
Mark Grey, assistant superintendent for business services, said the $7 million would be used to maintain jobs at a time when property values have fallen by about 12 percent, tourism is hurting because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the district will spend about $11 million to comply with the class-size amendment.
The district has lost tens of millions of dollars in funds from the state over the last several years. Grey has said he expects the district to receive about $9 million less for the next school year. The current school year's operating budget is $630 million.
"Everything that generates our revenue is continuing to go down," Grey said.
Grey said the district has until Aug. 24 to inform the supervisor of elections whether or not to place the tax referendum on the ballot.
Dire situation
The measure could face a hard time in November because of a lean economy and a proposed half-cent sales tax to pay for a countywide transit system also on the ballot.
Board members Kay Fields, Frank O'Reilly, Hazel Sellers and Tim Harris support the tax increase. Members Dick Mullenax, Margaret Lofton, and Lori Cunningham could not be reached for comment.
Sellers said residents need to know the dire financial situation the district faces when stimulus funds end. Currently, more than $30 million in stimulus funds is being used to pay more than 300 employees in the district. Those funds will be eliminated in 2011.
"If that money goes away we will be in trouble," Sellers said. "When we cut jobs we'll hurt the entire county."
O'Reilly said he was upset that state lawmakers passed it to board members to raise taxes, but he supports the measure.
"It's not my job to raise taxes for schools, it is the Florida Legislature's job," O'Reilly said. "But we don't have a choice. We'd have to lay off so many people."
This year, legislators assumed that board members would approve the increase, Harris said.
"They've included it as part of the budget," Harris said. "They are taking the assumption that all 67 districts will approve the tax."
CHANGE IN DECISION
Last year, Harris was the lone dissenter in the vote to approve the tax increase. He said he disagreed with using the money to help repay employees for costs of participating in the district's new health plan.
The tax increase resulted in an extra $8 million for the district, $6 million of which was used to repay employees for the new health plan.
This time, Harris said he will likely support the tax.
"When it comes to having jobs, that's a little different issue," Harris said. "We've (the district) done a quite a bit of reduction.
"Any further cuts will be dramatic," Harris said.
Board members must convey to the public why the money is needed, Harris said.
Harris said the district could be helped if the Legislature reduced some of the mandates on education.
"It would be the equivalent to having a revenue increase," Harris said.
Board Chairwoman Kay Fields said the outlook is grim.
"From all indications we really don't have a choice," Fields said. "The biggest thing we're trying to do is avoid laying off anyone from work."
Marianne Capoziello, president of the Polk Education Association, agrees the board doesn't have much of a choice but to support the tax.
"I don't know how we can keep a functioning school system if we don't have adequate funding (from the state)," Capoziello said.
© 2009-2012 TaxRates.cc
2011 - 2012 Tax Rate Guide and Tax Help Website
