Manatee County school board on bad path over impact fees, sales tax, capital spending

Over the next three years, will the past be repeated?

We all wonder why the Manatee County school board is willing to give the developers a pass on recommended impact fees. Three years collection on the impact fees brings in around $36 million.

In comparison, the school district can expect income from other capital sources as follows:

Sales tax monies, $75 million.

Capital funding, $246 million.

Discounted impact fees, $16 million.

That's a total of $337 million.

Deduct the debt obligations of $128 million attached to this income and you have a net of $200 million to spend on capital projects in the next three years.

Even though they have stated that they need $100 million for a new high school, the actual cost should be around $64 million.

Now we see why the school district is willing to give the developers a pass on the impact fees. Or is the reason simply that most politicians in the county get their campaign monies from developers?

As for me, I am tired of living with less so the government can grow (or possibly fill someone's pockets).

PS: Apparently the board is considering closing an elementary school this year as the need is dwindling for young students. The need for a middle school to be closed may follow soon as needs continue to change. Why not consider shuffling schools around to use existing buildings for the proposed new high school as the need is apparently increasing for older students until that too dwindles. Would that not help reduce residents tax burden!

This keeps me up at nights, sometimes.

Dennis Puckett

Bradenton

This story was originally published January 30, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County school board on bad path over impact fees, sales tax, capital spending ."