Appeals court rules for Hillsborough schools in taxing case

Tampa Bay Times | By Marlene Sokol and Sue Carlton | August 19, 2024

The ruling clears the way for voters to see a school tax referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Hillsborough voters will get to decide on the question of higher property taxes to supplement teacher pay, an appellate court ruled Monday.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal did not go along with the Hillsborough County Commission’s contention that it has discretion to move the date of the tax referendum from this November to 2026 or beyond.

While state law allows the county commission to place the referendum on the ballot, the appeals court found that this aspect of the law does not give them discretion to modify the date. One point they found in the school board’s favor was the ballot language, which specified that the tax would be collected between 2025 and 2029.

Now the decision before voters will be whether they are willing to pay $1 per $1,000 in taxable property value, in addition to the taxes they already pay.

School district leaders say they are relying on the tax to generate approximately $177 million a year for operating expenses. More than 90% is earmarked for employee bonuses: $6,000 a year for teachers and administrators, and $3,000 for support employees.

They say these bonuses are needed to match pay rates in Pinellas, Manatee, Orange, Pasco and other nearby counties that already levy the special property tax. The tax would remain in effect for four years, and after that it would come before the voters again.

Opponents on the county commission and on the school board argued that residents were already suffering too much from escalating housing costs.

Middleton High School student Malachi Brown describes teacher shortages in a gathering at the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association headquarters to promote a proposed property tax to support higher pay for school employees on Aug. 1. [MARLENE SOKOL |Tampa Bay Times]

A political action committee called Hillsborough Students Deserve Better, chaired by county PTA volunteer Ellen Lyons, has already begun a campaign to promote the tax.

“I am so delighted. I am so pleased,” Lyons said Monday. Now, she said, “we get to work. We are going to design a grassroots campaign to educate voters on the importance of having high-quality teachers in front of students every day.”

Rob Kriete, president of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, said he is “ecstatic to know this has a legitimate chance to help our students and our schools. We look forward to educating the community on how it will affect them, how it will positively affect our local economy and, most importantly, how it will help our students.”

Superintendent Van Ayres applauded the ruling.

“What we always wanted from the beginning was for our Hillsborough County voters and residents to make the decision,” he said.

School officials were caught by surprise this summer when the county commission, led by Republican Josh Wostal, voted 4-3 to delay the tax referendum. After school officials sued, and Hillsborough Circuit Judge Emily Peacock ordered the county to put it on the November ballot, Wostal persuaded the board to hire outside counsel and appeal.

“Disappointing and still disagree with their interpretation,” Wostal said via text regarding Monday’s ruling. He said he would ask the Legislature to amend the law to clarify the commission’s role in setting the election date or remove the board from the process.

Tuesday is the deadline for the Supervisor of Elections to receive all materials and begin printing the ballots, which means voters will see the question when they vote. But if the legal battle were to continue — if the case was appealed further to the Florida Supreme Court — there would be no guarantee that the tax would be collected.

But Wostal, who led the charge to delay the referendum, said Monday that the case is not worth a Supreme Court appeal, making further court action unlikely.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Josh Wostal during a Board of County Commissioners meeting at the Hillsborough County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd., on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 in Tampa. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

“That is exactly what should have happened,” Democratic County Commissioner Pat Kemp said of Monday’s ruling. “This should never have been pursued by the county commission. For the Republicans on the Hillsborough County Commission to deny the voters of Hillsborough County to decide this was wrong.”

Said fellow Democratic commissioner Harry Cohen: “The courts have spoken on this and it’s time to let the voters have their say.

The issue has been a divisive one among school board members and candidates. The board approved placing the tax on the ballot 5-2, and the vote to sue the county commission was 4-3.

On the campaign trail, conservative candidates have generally spoken out against the tax while the four incumbents — Nadia Combs, Jessica Vaughn, Henry “Shake” Washington and Lynn Gray — said the tax, although regrettable, should be on the ballot.

Hillsborough School Board candidates Jen Flebotte, left, Karen Bendorf, Lynn Gray (incumbent) and Johnny Bush at a Tampa Tiger Bay Club forum on Friday, March 15, 2024. Flebotte and Bendorf have spoken against the proposed schools tax while Gray and Bush say the tax is needed. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

The last time a property tax came before Hillsborough voters to support the schools was in 2022. Contrary to state trends, it failed. Four years earlier, in 2018, voters approved a half-cent sales surtax for capital improvements including air conditioners.