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District Rejects Cut To Tax Rate

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 9, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Faced with dwindling funding for capital improvements, Pasco County School Board members said Tuesday that this is no time to slice the property tax rate further than necessary.

"I don't think there is any doubt we need that money," board member Marge Whaley said during a budget workshop.

Olga Swinson, the district's chief finance officer, had asked board members for direction as she plans for the 2008-09 budget year. She gave them two options on the tax rate, one of which would have brought in about $7 million less for capital projects than the other.

Board members, though, said they didn't see how the district could afford to lose that $7 million when other sources of capital funding, such as the sales tax, impact fees and class-size reduction money are expected to bring in about $43 million less than in the current school year.

The district, meanwhile, has a long list of school renovation and construction projects planned as student enrollment continues to grow.

Board members told Swinson they prefer going with a proposed tax rate of $7.34 per $1,000 of taxable value, rather than $7.09. The current rate is $7.21 per $1,000.

The difference: The owner of a house with a taxable value of $200,000 would pay $1,468 in school taxes under the $7.34 tax rate. The same owner would pay $1,418 with the $7.09 rate.

The school board doesn't have total control over the tax rate. A school district's tax is broken down into several parts, and the largest portion of the tax rate is dictated by the state government. For 2008-09, Pasco's state-required effort is expected to be $5.10 per $1,000 of taxable value, up from $4.79 last year.

One portion of the tax rate the board does have some say over - the one that accounted for the difference in the two rates Swinson asked board members to consider - is the local capital improvement millage.

In the past, school districts could set that as high as $2 per $1,000 of taxable value. This year, though, the state law changed, and the new limit is $1.75.

Here was the situation the school board faced: Right now, Pasco taxpayers pay $1.50 per $1,000 for local capital improvements - the same as it has been the past four years. That's because the school board agreed to reduce it from $2 when voters approved the Penny for Pasco sales tax increase four years ago.

Part of the sales tax increase pays for school construction and renovations.

Because other school districts must reduce their capital improvement millage by 25 cents, Swinson asked board members whether they wanted to do the same, dropping Pasco's to $1.25.

She told them the law doesn't require them to do that.

They said they want to keep it the way it is. Board member Allen Altman said Pasco taxpayers already get a better deal than those in other districts and will continue to do so for another six years. The extra penny on the sales tax was passed for 10 years.

The tax rate still isn't a done deal, though. The board must hold two public hearings before taking a final vote. The first hearing is set for 6 p.m. July 29.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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