School Board seeks sales tax renewal
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

The Santa Rosa County School Board will ask voters to renew a half-cent sales tax for another 10 years in March. And as in the past, it will be the only issue on the special election ballot.

School board members at last week's board meeting approved language for the election resolution. Superintendent John Rogers also told the school board that some other groups in the county would like to be part of the special election.

"Midway Fire District, as well as several other groups in the community, contacted me asking if they could be included on the special election ballot concerning their ambulance issue," Rogers said. "I told them I believed the board would want to keep our tax renewal a stand alone issue, but I also told them I would bring it the board to see what you wanted to do."

Rogers asked board members if anyone had any comment on allowing Midway to ask their voters on the same ballot as the sales tax renewal if Midway taxpayers wanted their own ambulances.

"I have been asked about this. As I have always said, I don't think anything should overshadow this tax renewal issue. We always try to be community minded, but I think this should indeed be a stand alone issue - it is too important to us," said board member Diane Coleman of Navarre. The other board members agreed.

"I will make the final comment, then, to Midway or anyone else that asks that this is going to be a stand alone issue and nothing else will be included on the March 27 ballot," said Rogers.

Rogers explained that the half cent sales tax brings in $6.5-million a year.

"We could not do the construction we have done if we didn't have the sales tax revenue. It is a major asset to us," he said. "We are allowed to assess two mills property tax, but we only assess 1.4 mills. If we didn't have the sales tax, and we assessed the other .6 mills, it would bring in about $3-million a year. We would rather have a sales tax than assess more millage."

He said the school board had been very productive over the past 10 years with the sales tax monies.

"We are putting together a list from the past nine years of what we have done so far with the money. We have one more year of the current sales tax. We can show people that we have been very careful and very productive with their money," said Rogers.

School Board member Ed Gray III of Gulf Breeze asked, "Can we ask in the resolution for more than 10 years? After seeing the five year overview, and all the things we need to do in the next five years, if we could get a 15-year extension, it would really help."

Rogers said since all the presentations around the county so far had been for a 10-year extension, he believed they should stay with the 10-year request for renewal.

"I think we should stay with the language asking for a 10-year renewal. We have put out information and presentations all over the county already saying it would be a renewal of the 10-year tax. And we have been very productive with the last 10 years of monies, so I really think if we need to go back 10 years from now and ask again, the taxpayers will trust us and work with us then too," Rogers said.

The resolution approved asks for the half-cent sales tax to be renewed for another 10 years.