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Hello Kelly,
On Monday, July 31st, the school board held a tentative budget hearing and voted on tentative millage amounts and tentative budget amounts. The following day, Keith Flaugh from the Florida Citizen’s Alliance sent out a mass email stating, “School board members Lucarelli and Carter were joined by Lichter in a 3-2 vote last night to raise property taxes $111 Million for a budget of $1.55 Billion dollars.” His statement is FALSE. He knows that he doesn’t have to support his statement with evidence, because all he had to do is say it and people believe it. Review the meeting or board recap here.
Truth and facts matter, so let’s break down Keith’s alleged $111 million tax increase.
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The millage rate actually decreased from FY23 (4th lowest in the state)
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General Fund Revenues increased: $35 million due to increased number of students added to the school district
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General Fund Transfers increased: $5 million-property insurance required an increase in transfers which are duplicated in both General and Capital Funds, therefore, $5million increases the total budget by $10 million
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General Funds Fund balance increased $38 million to address paying teachers more, dealing with expiring grants, the need for new ERP system, Family Empowerment Scholarship legislation, potential expiring referendum, and any other financial uncertainties
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Interest Revenue increased $9 million from FY23
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Internal Service increased $9 million from FY23…since these funds exist as a redundancy in both the General Fund and Internal Service Funds, it increases budget by $18 million.
Since coming onto the board in November, I have had several meetings with staff regarding the budget and addressing wasteful spending and administrative overhead at the district office. When I proposed a board work session to establish board priorities, one of the top five priorities that came out of that work session was fiscal responsibility. In fact, the board will hold a special work session on August 28th to take a deep dive into fiscal responsibility and accountability. The work necessary to address budget concerns doesn’t happen at one single budget hearing. This will be an ongoing effort.
Also, I learned during my first week on the board that the district would need to build two additional elementary schools (one by 2025 and the other by 2026). This was news to me as the previous board/superintendent never mentioned it. We must be strategic in dealing with the growth as building continues and more people move to Collier County.
When I pledged not to raise taxes with the Americans for Tax Reform, I was aware that 22 other Florida school districts (out of 67) added an additional tax through a referendum and 30 school districts in Florida added a half cent sales tax to raise money for capital to address student growth. I did not violate the pledge with my vote last week, and I would NEVER support those aforementioned tax increases. Every property owner in Collier County that receives a homestead tax exemption will see a slight decrease in their property taxes.
Paying our highly qualified teachers more, addressing growth and various increases in costs i.e., property insurance, employee health insurance, FRS, electricity, and additional operating expenses with the new high school all need to be taken into consideration. The school board has a fiduciary duty to the taxpayers, and we need to be responsible and strategic, so that we don’t kick the can down the road and put future boards in situations where they will have no choice but to raise taxes to pay for growth and increased operating costs.
Voting no last week would have been much easier, but those who voted no, proposed no real solution or plan. I look forward to the August 28th work session to address fiscal responsibility and accountability in a meaningful and responsible way. Not only is the board committed to making improvements when it comes to the budget, but the new leadership team is also on board and committed to making necessary changes that ensures we receive a great return on investment.
Finally, I want to wish all our students, families, faculty and staff a wonderful first day of school on August 10th! Let’s make this our best school year yet!
With gratitude,
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