School sales tax may live on

Officials say the tax, enacted in 1998, may be needed beyond its 2003 expiration. It must be approved in a referendum.

By ROBERT KING

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 23, 2000

BROOKSVILLE -- In 1998, the School Board convinced Hernando County voters to support a five-year sales tax increase to pay for a new school that it otherwise could not afford.

Come 2004, residents may see the school district attempt a repeat performance.

District officials said Thursday that without a renewal of the sales tax approved in 1998, they will not have enough money to build an elementary school expected to be needed by 2004.

In the 1998 referendum, voters agreed to accept a new half-cent sales tax to pay for a high school on which construction is expected to begin later this year. The school is intended to reduce crowding and be a hub for vocational and technical training.

That tax took effect on New Year's Day 1999 and expires in 2003. Along the way, it is expected to generate more than $21.1-million toward a high school expected to cost $33.8-million. State lottery money will cover the rest.

In a discussion Thursday about long-range spending, district Finance Director Vince Benedict suggested to board members that they be prepared to go back to the voters.

"Taking a look at the long-range plan, I don't see how we can afford a new elementary school," Benedict said.

The district just opened Chocachatti Elementary School in August and filled it with nearly 700 students. For now, it and a few other elementary schools have some breathing room. But others are growing increasingly crowded.

Pine Grove Elementary, for example, was bigger than some middle schools last year. It will add six more portable classroom this fall to the six it already has.

No site has been chosen for a new elementary school. One option being discussed is the Weeki Wachee area. Another option is building a school in the Ridge Manor area that would serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

District officials say it is too early to start planning a 2004 campaign to renew the sales tax. But given that their other option would likely be to ask voters for permission to go deeper in debt, such a campaign appears possible.

In 1998, the board chose a sales tax instead of selling more bonds because it preferred a "pay-as-you-go" philosophy that would not exacerbate Hernando County's status as one of the most debt-ridden school districts in Florida.

But talk of a sales tax renewal could give skeptics from the 1998 campaign reason to crow. Some voters laughed when they heard board members say the sales tax really would expire in 2003. They figured the board, once getting its high school, would divert the money elsewhere.

Board members pointed to the strict wording on the referendum ballot, which said the tax would expire in five years. They labored to remind people that the only way the sales tax could live on would be to get the public to approve another referendum.

Board member John Druzbick, who as chairman in 1998 was one of the primary supporters of the sales-tax effort, said he thinks voters will respond well to a future campaign if the high school that opens in 2002 lives up to its billing.

Current board Chairman Jim Malcolm said he made a point during the 1998 campaign for the sales tax of telling voters that they might see the board come back to them in the future.

Malcolm said he expects the public to feel it has gotten its money's worth when it sees the reality of the new high school.

"Is it perpetuating a sales tax?" he said. "We always have to go back to them. And they can say no."

Aside from looking into the future, the School Board also made some short-term financial decisions Thursday.

It agreed to $20,400 worth of salary increases for 13 employees, ranging from computer specialists to an internal auditor to a school bus garage manager. The moves will not become final until the district's budget is approved later this summer.

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