Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to allow the Franklin County school district to hold a referendum in November so voters can decide whether to allow the school district to increase its operating budget.
The referendum will be on the general election ballot and is the same as one held in 2020 when the district asked voters to allow the school district to increase its operating budget by a half mill.
The move is technically a tax increase though taxpayers shouldn’t see an increase in their tax bills because the increase in the operating budget will be offset by a decrease in the school system’s building fund.
If voters approve the measure again it will allow the school district to free up construction money and put it in the operating budget where it can be used for teacher and employee pay as well as other operating expenses including school safety, technical and vocational programs and athletic programs.
Voters first approved the issue in 2008 – but it has to be renewed every 4 years.
The current approval ends on June the 30th, 2024.
The school district will have a second item on this November’s ballot asking voter approval to levy a half cent sales tax for the next 20 years.
If that measure is approved by voters it will raise about 1.3 million dollars a year for the school district, about 300 thousand of that would be shared with the Apalachicola Bay Charter School.
The money could be used for capital outlay projects and even for purchasing school buses.
A similar half cent sales tax is already in place in a number of nearby counties including Leon and Bay Counties and Wakulla County voters will also consider the issue this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment