After months of debates, telephone polls and dueling letters on the editorial page, the Penny for Pasco proposal goes to the forum that matters most: the ballot box.
Voters on Tuesday will decide the fate of the proposed 1-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax hike. And every registered voter - regardless of party affiliation - can cast a ballot.
The sales tax supporters and opponents agree on this much: The issue is guaranteed to touch every person's pocketbook and quality of life over the next decade. To provide some basic information about the proposal, the Pasco Times has compiled the following questions and answers.
Q: What is the Penny for Pasco?
A: It is a proposal to raise the sales tax in Pasco County from 6 to 7 cents on the dollar for the next 10 years.
Q: How much would it generate?
A: An estimated $437.5-million over 10 years.
Q: Who would get the money?
A: The money would be split among the School Board (45 percent), county government (45 percent) and the six cities (10 percent) after reimbursing the School Board for cutting its property tax rate.
Q: What property tax cut?
A: If voters pass the sales tax hike, the School Board will reduce its property tax rate by a half-mill for 10 years. A half-mill is 50 cents of tax for every $1,000 of taxable property. The School Board would be reimbursed with about $118.5-million in sales tax dollars for that lost property tax revenue.
Q: Why offer the tax swap?
A: To make the deal more attractive to voters. Also, officials want to shift some of the tax burden from property owners to tourists and other visitors who buy goods here.
Q: Is the School Board legally required to cut its property tax rate if Penny for Pasco is approved?
A: Yes. The ballot language includes the proposal "to reduce school property taxes by a half-mill" for the 10-year life of the sales tax hike. If voters approve it, officials must do it, a county attorney told the Pasco Times.
Q: Does that mean my property tax bill will go down?
A: Not necessarily. If your property increases in value, or if other taxing agencies raise their rates, you could still end up with a higher property tax bill than last year.
Q: How long would the sales tax increase last?
A: It would run from Jan. 1, 2005, to Dec. 31, 2014. Under state law, it cannot be extended without voters' approval.
Q: How would the county spend its share of the money?
A: The county would put half ($72.7-million) toward improving existing roads. Another 25 percent ($36.3-million) would pay for conservation land, and 20 percent ($29-million) would pay for public safety items, such as sheriff's patrol cars, ambulances and heart defibrillators in public buildings. The last 5 percent would go into a contingency fund.
Q: Can the County Commission change its spending plan?
A: Commissioners say they plan to stick to the published list. Legally, however, individual projects on the list could be changed, so long as total spending was divided as promised among roads, conservation land and public safety projects under a legally-binding resolution approved last December. Commissioners can also amend their list of specific projects if they get matching dollars or reimbursements from the state.
Q: What about the cities?
A: They would split their $32.3-million share based on population. Each city has a list of road projects, drainage improvements, utility upgrades and other amenities that would use sales tax money.
Q: Can the sales tax money pay for officials' salaries?
A: No. It can only go toward "capital" expenses, such as buildings, vehicles and land.
Q: Does the tax apply to everything?
A: No. Food and medications, among other items, are exempt.
Q: Is there a cap?
A: Yes. Only the first $5,000 of a big-ticket purchase, such as a car, would be subject to the extra sales tax. So the maximum you would pay in additional sales tax is $50 per purchase.
Q: How much would this cost me?
A: It depends on how much you spend on sales-taxable items. One state agency estimates people spend about 40 percent of their income on sales-taxable items. Under that formula, the extra penny could add up to $132 a year for the average Pasco family making $33,000.
Q: Will any of this money go to the state?
A: No. It would stay in Pasco County to be divided between the school district and local governments.
Q: Why can't impact fees pay for the road projects?
A: By law, impact fees can only pay to widen roads or build new ones to handle growth. They cannot be used to fix roads that are already overcrowded or dangerous. Officials say the sales tax money would pay for improving existing trouble spots.
Q: What about the taxes I already pay on gas?
A: The county will get about $17.8-million in gas tax revenues this year. About $4.5-million goes to repay bonds from previous road projects, while another $4-million pays for road and bridge maintenance. The remainder goes to new road projects.
Q: So why does the county want more money for roads?
A: Officials say the impact fees and gas tax dollars don't cover all of the road projects they want to do.
Q: Why doesn't the state pay for these projects?
A: The largest one on the list - the $22-million expanded interchange at Interstate 75 and State Road 54/County Road 54 - is a state project planned for 2011. The sales tax would allow the county to do the project sooner, then get reimbursed from the state.
Officials also think they have a better chance of getting state and federal dollars to improve U.S. 19 if Pasco County spends some local money on the road, in the form of $13-million for channelized medians. The state and federal agencies often are more willing to "help communities that help themselves," commissioners say.
Q: But Pasco is growing. Where's the county's extra revenue from the growing tax base?
A: Some of it stayed with taxpayers, since county officials lowered the tax rate in each of the last three years. Even so, growth will pour an additional $2.1-million into the fire services fund and $8.6-million into the general fund this year. About $4-million of that money goes to the constitutional officers, such as the sheriff and the supervisor of elections. The remainder is split among several departments: data processing, emergency medical services, social services and parks.
Q: What about conservation land: How much does Pasco have?
A: Estimates range from 11.2 percent (county parks master plan) to 16.4 percent (property appraiser records) to about 19 percent (Southwest Florida Water Management District) of the county. The percentage of government-owned land is higher (nearly 23 percent) but that includes government offices, sewer plants and U.S. post offices, among other facilities.
Q: Why do county officials want more land?
A: Officials say it would preserve some open space and save money in the long run. It is cheaper to buy land for conservation than to pay for roads, schools, parks and other amenities once an area is filled with homes.
Q: How fast is the school district growing?
A: An additional 2,400 students pour into Pasco schools each year, making it the fifth-fastest growing district in the state.
Q: Are the schools overcrowded?
A: Pasco County has the equivalent of nine full schools in portable classrooms.
Q: What's wrong with portables?
A: Portables provide more classrooms, but the cafeteria, library and bathrooms are not designed to handle those extra students. In some schools, for instance, the first lunch period starts at 10:10 a.m.
Q: Didn't the School Board have $97-million last year for school construction?
A: Yes and no. The School Board's construction fund in the 2002-03 budget had $97-million. But much of that money was rolled over from previous years, and most of it was earmarked for maintenance and repairs, the new Pine View Elementary, and another soon-to-be-constructed elementary in west Pasco. The School Board lets the money accumulate because it can't start building a school unless it has enough money in the bank to finish it.
Q. How many new schools does Pasco need in the next decade?
A. Eighteen, just to accommodate growth. The district anticipates having funds to build nine. The $197-million from Penny for Pasco would build the other nine schools and repair or renovate 10 others.
Q: What about the class size reduction amendment approved by voters in 2002? Won't that take care of some of the growth in schools?
A: No. By law, the state is entirely responsible for paying to reduce class sizes. The district figures it needs to build seven new schools to satisfy the requirements for smaller classes. Penny for Pasco would not pay for those schools. It would help pay for schools needed to keep up with the growth.
Q: Didn't the state give Pasco County a budget increase last year?
A: Yes. The school district got an additional $22-million from the state this year, and $12.6-million of that was earmarked for increased operating costs of running a district with 2,400 more students than the year before. Another $9.9-million went to class-size reduction. Add in the rising salary costs, insurance premiums and other expenses, and the school district faced a $10.8-million shortfall, schools superintendent John Long said.
Q: Where did the lottery money go?
A: The lottery was pitched to voters in 1986 as a way to raise extra money to enhance education. Over the years, though, legislators have used some lottery dollars in place of general revenue money to fund education. Other lottery dollars have been siphoned away to pay for Bright Futures college scholarships, fund charter schools and reward schools with improved FCAT scores.
Because of those changes, the lottery money coming to Pasco has dropped from $9-million in 1992 to $4.9-million this year, with $3.2-million earmarked for teacher bonuses and materials for schools with improved FCAT scores.
Q: Why can't impact fees pay for the new schools?
A: They help, officials say. But the fees can only be charged on new homes being built. Almost half of the new students come from families moving into homes that were built 20 or 30 years ago for retirees - so they can't be charged an impact fee, even though they are creating an impact.
Q: What about the extra revenue from the growing tax base?
A: It wasn't much of a windfall for the School Board, Long said.
Local property taxes contributed $26-million to the school district's building fund this year. Of that, just $3-million came from the annual increase in the tax base.
Q: What will happen to schools if the Penny for Pasco doesn't pass?
A: School officials predict as many as 14 schools could be on double sessions or another alternative schedule within three years. Double sessions means two schools meet in one facility, with students and teachers attending in half-day shifts. Instructional time is cut by an hour a day over the course of a 180-day school year composed of six-hour days.
Q: Will charter schools benefit if Penny for Pasco passes?
A: No. The school district does not plan to spend any of the Penny revenue on charter schools - publicly funded schools that are run by private organizations. Because charter schools have the ability to cap their own enrollment, said school superintendent candidate Chuck Rushe, they don't face the same kinds of growth pressures as the rest of the district.
- Compiled by Bridget Hall Grumet and Rebecca Catalanello.
