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Hernando Today

District Bosses: Amendment 5 Would Be 'Devastating'

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By LINNEA BROWN

Hernando Today

Published: July 25, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - A statewide proposal to lower property taxes and raise other revenue may have unpredictable effects on local schools.

Officials across the Hernando County School District have expressed outrage at the conditions set forth by Amendment 5, the proposed constitutional amendment up for a statewide vote in November.

"It will destroy the educational foundation that has been established throughout our state," Superintendent Wayne Alexander said. "Countless sources of pride will be gone."

If approved, Amendment 5 would eliminate the portion of property taxes that pay for local schools, lowering total tax bills by as much as 40 percent. It would replace the Legislature's current "required local effort" with revenue from a combination of sources, relying mostly on increased sales taxes.

Among proposed new revenue sources are a 1-cent sales tax increase, cutting the state budget and eliminating sales tax exemptions.

However, no one knows which sources lawmakers will approve - and with the current declining state of Florida's economy, local officials worry about how much a new plan could actually bring in.

"I think it's going to be devastating," Vice Chairman Jim Malcolm said. "They will never make up for the shortfall. The only way would be for Tallahassee to raise taxes, and they will never do that, so it would just shift the burden to the local level."

The amendment, which would take effect in 2010-11, states schools must be held harmless, receiving the same amount of funding they are receiving today, plus an allowance for growth. The state would need to raise $11.1 billion to compensate for the lost property taxes.

Problem is, a 1-cent increase in sales tax would only generate about $4 billion, Alexander said.

"There's a $5 billion shortfall that they have no idea how to generate," he said. "You can't bring forth a partial plan. It would require (us) to cut positions and programs like people have never seen."
Finance director Deborah Bruggink agreed.

"We hate it," she said. "Students are going to suffer because of this."

As part of the Florida School Boards Association, the Hernando board and others are currently challenging the measure before the state Supreme Court, arguing that its "tax reduction" for property owners will cause a tax hike for those who don't own property. The suit also argues that the measure is confusing and misleading.

School board member John Sweeney pointed toward the state's past unkept promises, such as promising school districts education would be held harmless by Amendment 1, then cutting state funding.

"They haven't held us harmless yet," he said.

Not everyone is opposed to the measure.

Tuesday, Florida Realtors and some lawmakers hailed the amendment as unprecedented tax relief for citizens, with a $1 million campaign aimed at convincing residents to vote for the amendment.

But the next day, the watchdog group Florida TaxWatch released an analysis blasting the measure, calling the amendment a "tax swap" that could actually increase taxes by up to $3 billion to maintain current funding for schools.

Alexander pointed toward the estimated $20 in property taxes per month that the average homeowner would save by voting for the measure, encouraging citizens to consider the potentially harmful effects of the measure carefully before voting.

"There are services associated with those taxes you pay for, and $240 a year is nothing compared to what will be lost," he said.

The amendment would also provide a 5 percent assessment cap for nonhomestead property, lowering it from its current level of a 10 percent annual increase.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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