Manatee County school board wrong to link impact fee to sales tax referendum

Should the Manatee County school district reward the developers with $37 million for promoting passage of the referendum that will extend the half-cent sales tax for schools? That is exactly what will happen if the Manatee County commission approves the school board's resolution, which ties passage of the referendum to a 50 percent discount on school impact fees.

With a new high school needed immediately and five other schools needed in the near future, the school system cannot afford to give millions of dollars away to ensure passage of the referendum. The quid pro quo had clearly been arranged prior to the school board meeting when developers convinced board members that it was better to give them a 50 percent impact fee discount worth $37 million over five years rather than risk the $150 million that would be generated over the same period by the sales tax.

That tactic may have backfired on both the school board and the developers as many voters are now outspoken about not voting for the referendum because it would reward the developers who have not paid school impact fees for seven years at the taxpayer's expense.

The school board should have had more confidence in the voters who are anxious to see a higher quality school system and especially if the ongoing audit exonerates the school system of any misappropriation of school funds.

There is still a chance that the school board's mistake may be corrected in January. If the BoCC in its school impact fee ordinance throws out any reference to the sales tax referendum and requires 100 percent payment of school impact fees, the school district would start collecting impact fees in April. The school district and the school board would then have 10 months to convince the voters that passage of the referendum is the right thing to do.

Edward Goff

Bradenton

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County school board wrong to link impact fee to sales tax referendum ."