Manatee County school board will lose sales tax vote if impact fees discounted

Manatee County commissioners and school board, now discussing taxes, must remember we and tourists all pay sales taxes, proportionate to our spending.

These taxes should exclusively benefit this taxed majority with roads, bridges and overpasses, and short-staffed fire, rescue and police we all use and need; also schools attracting businesses and professionals and creating educated, productive, citizens, not derelicts and criminals.

Ten percent of Manatee public school students attend tuition free, real choice, public charters, open to all, no district restrictions. For 15 years family and friends of charter students paid the half-cent school sales tax.

Their children, by board policies, received nothing. These horribly unfair policies are about to be extended.

The board decided to double the price, derived from local taxes, to bus public charter students, too. Their proposed plan allows development to avoid its huge cost to us all, by rolling back on impact fees for a sales tax, buying developers' advertisement and promotion for a tax the board can't promote.

They believe taxpayers won't understand this unfair maneuver. They're wrong. This paper must inform voters on this outrageous deception.

Groups are organizing cash to fight this and gathering signatures committing votes against taxes without a 100 percent impact fee and prorated sharing with charters.

Given charter numbers, family and friends, 10,000 votes against this are possible. The county must commit to 100 percent impact fees and tightly defined uses of funds benefiting all for any support. The electorate is mad as hell; they aren't going to take it anymore!

David R. Kraner, Board Chairman, Manatee School for the Arts

Palmetto

This story was originally published May 15, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County school board will lose sales tax vote if impact fees discounted ."