Proposal To Keep Escambia County School Board Millage Rates Steady For 2009-2010

Proposal to Keep the Total Escambia School Board Millage Rate tor 2009-2U1U level at the 7.72 rate from 2008-2009.

Cut .390 Mill from Discretionary Capital Outlay, levy 1.11 Mills. Levy the Special Discretionary "Critical Operating Needs" .250 Mill, Resulting in an anticipated state compression adjustment (additional funding) of Roughly $2 Million dollars.

Levy the State mandated Required Local Effort 5.6120 Mills Levy the Discretionary Operating .7480 Mills = grand total millage 7.772. (Same as 2008-2009) Difference between levy of 7.786 and 7.72 = $2.2 Million Dollars District can make up the $2.2 Million by utilizing one of these three options: Option 1. We can use the $2 million dollars is state compression funding (not yet budgeted) we receive from the .250 mills levied for the special "Critical Operating Needs" and $200,000 from Molino School sale proceeds, to get to 2.2 Million. Option 2. We can do an expedited re-allocation of the 2003-2007 l/2 Cent Sales tax fund carryover (Projected to be more than $23 Million), to identify qualifying projects that will alleviate a minimum of $2.2 million dollars from the Capital Budget. Option 3. We have recently closed sales on three excess school properties: Wedgewood Middle, Brownsville Middle, and the Molino School. The sales proceeds of these three properties exceed $4.6 Million dollars. We can pull $2.2 Million from this $4.6Million. Facts to Consider: 1.Keeping tax rates low in a housing bust helps to get the markets moving again. Raising taxes in housing bust markets keeps sales stagnant. Fewer houses sold, equals fewer taxpayers to support schools. Right now Escambia County is in a major housing slump. 2.Many businesses have gone bankrupt, leaving many vacant commercial properties around town. Fewer commercial businesses paying taxes equals fewer taxpayers helping to support our schools. 3.Many individuals have had their houses foreclosed and have left, leaving fewer taxpayers to pav taxes to support schools. Fewer homes are selling, and high

Taxes lead to some choosing to purchase houses in adjacent counties where taxes are lower and carpool to jobs in Escambia County. 4.Escambia County has 158,292 total parcels of ad-valorem taxable properties.

The majority of these, 85,994 (54.3%) are not SOH/Homestead Properties. 72,298 (45.6%) properties are SOH/ Homestead properties. 5. Some large commercial properties have had their taxable values increase this year (West Florida Hospital, for example) So while not technically a tax increase, raising the millage rate over last year's rate will result in some taxpayers paying more than last year. Keeping the Property tax rate stable at last year's level is the fiscally prudent thing to do for our struggling local taxpayers during this, the worst recession in generations.