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District's Citizens Group Suggests Property Tax Hike

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

TAMPA - A citizens panel that advises the Hillsborough County School Board recently weighed the district's proposed budget cuts – and came up with some ideas of its own.

Perhaps its most controversial: higher property taxes. In a report to the school board today, the citizens group said school property taxes should increase by a half mill, an amount that would raise $42.5 million in revenue.

"We don't hold any hope that Tallahassee is going to be the answer for our local schools' excellence," said Patrick Manteiga, the panel's chairman and editor and publisher of La Gaceta. "The solution can be in our own hands."

The group's 30 members, who include teachers, business owners, students and retirees, also suggested charging a fee for sports or other extracurricular activities to avoid cutting into them.

It also urged the school district to avoid layoffs and encourage unpaid furloughs from senior administrators to bus drivers to "spread the pain."

The pain, for some, already has begun. About 150 teachers who were rehired after they retired learned this week that the district won't be renewing their contracts for the next school year.

While the district has put talk of furloughs on hold while it waits for budget answers from state lawmakers, Superintendent MaryEllen Elia reminded the school board that ideas to save millions in the district are just the start.

Without relief, the school district may face cuts of more than $150 million. In addition to furloughs, administrators have said they plan to cut time in art education and reassign guidance counselors and career specialists to other jobs.

Even so, "I do not feel that what we have proposed is all that needs to be on the table," Elia said.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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