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A new tax plan could include a 2 percent millage rate reduction.
By ROBERT KING
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000
BROOKSVILLE -- When the number crunchers tell politicians they can have a property-tax rate cut in an election year, it must sound like sweet music.
As budget season approaches, School Board members learned Tuesday that they should expect a school tax package that proposes a 2 percent millage rate reduction.
At least that's how the tax picture looks based on early projections of nearly $83-million in revenue and spending limits expected to be announced by the state. The millage rate -- a mill being equivalent to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed, non-exempt property -- would drop from 10.482 to 10.242.
For the owner of a $100,000 home who takes a $25,000 homestead exemption, the rate reduction could mean an $18 tax cut. For the owner of a $50,000 home with the exemption, the tax cut would amount to $6. But those savings could be erased should the property appraiser assess the homes at a higher value.
Word of the likely rate reduction from school finance director Vince Benedict came as glad tidings to School Board members.
Robert Wiggins, who is not quite halfway through his first four-year term, looked at School Board Chairman Jim Malcolm, who is up for re-election this fall, and said: "How convenient. I hope we can do this in two years."
Malcolm, after making a comment about the influence he enjoys as board chairman, acknowledged that he had absolutely no influence on the lower tax-rate proposal, the bulk of which is mandated by the state Department of Education.
Still, Malcolm, who said he will file prequalifying papers today to begin his re-election campaign, likes the sound of a tax-rate cut.
"I think it's great," he said.
Benedict said the School Board's discretion on the matter of tax rates is limited to the amount of taxes that it devotes to debt reduction.
This latest proposed tax package would leave the portion of the millage rate that goes for debt reduction, known as the "voted debt service," at current levels.
If the School Board desires, Benedict said, it could cut that rate even further. But that would mean devoting less cash toward paying off the School Board's mountain of school construction debt.
Several board members, including Malcolm, said they would prefer to devote as much money as they can to lower the district's construction debt rather than reduce the millage rate further. This option, Malcolm said, offers the best of both worlds: Lower tax rates and maximum debt reduction.
In 1997, Hernando County had an $89.5-million debt and the highest debt-per-student ratio of any school district in Florida. It isn't clear if Hernando still holds that dubious honor. Late Tuesday afternoon, Benedict could not produce an updated assessment of the debt.
But, as of last year, officials said the district still would not reach debt freedom for another 14 years, even if does not sell another bond between now and then.
The School Board is not scheduled to approve its final budget and tax rate until September.