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WILL VAN SANTHernando and Pasco join a growing list of Florida counties that have approved local tax referendums to benefit public schools.
The strategy of asking voters to approve higher taxes for public schools gained momentum Tuesday.
Voters in Hernando and Pasco counties approved sales tax increases to pay for new buildings.
Hernando voters approved a half-cent increase for schools, while defeating a separate half-cent sales tax increase to pay for county building programs.
In Pasco, voters approved a penny sales tax increase that will run for 10 years and pay for school construction and county and city initiatives.
"We're going to be able to take care of the needs of this county," Chuck Rushe, chief financial officer for the Pasco County School District.
Support for school taxes mirrored a trend across Florida, with voters in 14 counties approving local option sales taxes for education since the state began allowing it in 1995.
The Pinellas School Board is considering whether to ask voters for a property tax increase to boost teacher salaries.
In Tuesday's Hernando election, the school tax passed by a vote of 15,325, or 55 percent, to 12,469, or 45 percent. The county tax was defeated by a vote 15,677, or 57 percent, to 12,007, or 43 percent.
About 27 percent of the county's 102,000 registered voters cast ballots in the election.
The school tax is expected to raise $65-million. It replaces a half-cent sales tax that expired Dec. 31.
The new tax money will be used to build at least six schools over the next decade, during which time enrollment is expected to rise 53 percent.
"I'm kind of elated," said Hernando School Board member Gail David. "It will cover between a quarter and a third of what we need to build new schools over the next 10 years."
The sales tax for Hernando County government, which county officials had projected would generate $70-million over 10 years, was viewed chiefly as a way to continue a popular road repair and maintenance program.
In 1999, the county committed $2-million annually to residential road maintenance. By 2002, coming up with the money each year had become a headache for officials. Various county funds have been raided to keep the program afloat.
Now, the future of the program is in doubt.
"Does the board want to continue the road program?" county budget director George Zoettlein asked, referring to county commissioners. "Where does the $2-million come from? It's going to be a real tough year."
According to county officials, the money would also have been used to build more jail space, libraries and park facilities. It also would have allowed for the elimination of 3 cents of the county gas tax, as well as a reduction of the property tax rate by 25 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.
Tuesday afternoon, County Commissioner Diane Rowden, a spirited and tireless advocate for the sales tax, was outside a polling place in Brookridge, a retirement community west of Brooksville that is home to about 5,000 people.
Rowden opened doors for voters getting out of cars, lent a hand to disabled voters and pressed everyone she greeted to support the tax.
She offered the standard argument that county leaders have preached for months: The sales tax offers a steady stream of revenue, which both residents and visitors feed. It also allows projects to be paid for with cash. The alternative, issuing bonds, saddles residents with millions of dollars in debt payments.
In the end, her pitch proved unpersuasive.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed," Rowden said. "But the voters have spoken."
Rowden, like other county officials, said their tax campaign failed because it lacked a single, emotional focus - like building new schools for kids - to persuade voters.
In Pasco, 29 percent of the county's 245,000 registered voters cast ballots.
The penny tax was approved by a vote of 36,283, or 52 percent, to 33,612, or 48 percent.
The tax will run for 10 years and is expected to bring in an estimated $437-million. The revenue will be split among the county, 45 percent; school district, 45 percent; and the cities, 10 percent.
To make the sales tax increase more palatable to voters, school officials promised to cut the property tax rate for school construction by a half-mill for 10 years. That translates to 50 cents of savings for every $1,000 of taxable property.
In addition to school construction, the money will be used to improve roads, pay for city projects and to buy conservation land.
Both Hernando and Pasco counties can begin collecting the sales taxes on Jan. 1, 2005.
- Staff writers Rebecca Catalanello and Bridget Hall Grumet contributed to this report. Information from Times files was also used. Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127.