TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Hillsborough County commissioners are one step closer to renewing the Community Investment Tax.
It’s a half-cent sales tax that has been in place for nearly three decades.
The tax has raised $2.3 billion, with a quarter of it going to the school district.
Now, county commissioners are cutting the schools’ share of that tax money from 25% to 5%.
“10% still would’ve been a gain for them, and it would’ve adequately supplied the funds we needed for our schools and they failed to do that,” Hillsborough County parent Damaris Allen said. “It hurts our citizens, and it hurts our families.”
For Commissioner Michael Owen, that 5% was a compromise, as he wanted to cut the school district out of the tax altogether after the school board passed its millage referendum Tuesday night.
“If I knew the solution to the schools woes was to just continue to throw money at them, I would do it,” he explained. “But the track record doesn’t show that for me.”
Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Van Ayres pointed to the county’s need for housing, saying if commissioners approve new builds they should expect more kids.
And more children means more schools.
“With new construction comes the needs for new schools. So that was our ask, for the community investment tax to be included, that these are builds this county commission approves so some sort of funding that comes back to us for new school construction is important,” he said.
Ayres walked into Wednesday’s county commission meeting hoping for 10%.
“The money we generate to build new schools is generated through impact fees,” he explained. “We have approximately $454 million to project over the next 7 years of money we would put into new construction.”
“We would only generate $210 million through impact fees, which leads us to a shortfall of 244 million,” Ayres continued.
The superintendent was hoping to get the majority, if not all of that shortfall, covered through the Community Investment Tax, but Ayres walked out Wednesday with half of the percent he was hoping for.
“We should be at $187 million for our capital needs in our school district,” he calculated. “Now we just have to do the math again and figure out what we can do on our end to make up for that shortfall.”
He says the need for funding through this half-cent sales tax is critical as Hillsborough County continues to grow.
“The Community Investment Tax are capitol dollars to build more schools,” he said. “This is an urgent need.”
County commissioners previously warned Ayres if the school board moves ahead with a property tax proposal, the district would be cut out from the community investment tax revenue.
Tuesday night the school board ignored that warning, voting to put its proposal on the ballot anyway.
“I’m concerned the school district is going to be perceived as double dipping with both referendums although I know the needs are different,” Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan said.
The needs are different.
Money from the sales tax would go to build new schools, while funds from the property tax would pay teacher salaries.
That property tax proposal still needs county approval.
It’s something Ayres believes commissioners must do.
“With the county commission, it’s a passthrough,” he explained. “I think it’s something, once my board approves, it’s not something that can be held up by our county commission.”
Commissioner Joshua Wostal doesn’t want his hands tied.
“There’s a current thought process that we must vote yes, but in my opinion that can’t be such a thing,” he explained. “If that is how the state law is written, I would leave it up to the state to fix that state law.”
‘What’s the point in having an elected official if you have laws in place that mandate they must say yes on items,” Wostal continued.
If he gets a say?
“I will absolutely say no if that item comes forward,” Wostal said. “I believe property tax is the most regressive form of tax that are there and they make home ownership increasingly unattainable and increase the threshold of ‘affordable housing’”.
County commissioners will meet again April 17 at 10 a.m. for a final hearing on the community investment tax.
After that, Wostal says voters should keep an eye out in August.
“I think that the most important thing is not to look at the referendum language, but to look at the interlocal agreement language that doesn’t come until Aug 1,” he said.
Wostal looked back at the community investment tax passed in 1996, saying there were flaws in that interlocal agreement language.
“That’s where we kind of gave away the farm to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in that tax, and that’s where we have to have those restrictions that I got support verbally on today I just have to make sure they get in writing and accomplished,” he explained.
