Health & Fitness
What Are Your Thoughts To A Taxing Question?
In 2004 and 2008 Pinellas voters approved a supplemental tax to help fund schools. Will they do it again in 2012?
In 2012 you will have to make lots of decisions about the direction your government will take. In Clearwater we have a race for mayor and three referendum questions that need to be decided on January 31, 2012. The Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition is working out final details to host a candidate forum on January 9, 2012.
This forum will be an opportunity for you to meet your new city council members, Jay Polglaze and Doreen Dipolito and the two candidates running for mayor, George Cretekos and Christine Marketos-Cuomo. We plan to take some of your questions through a blog, that hasn't been finished yet. So while we finalize details, and uhm, err, stall for time, we say congratulations to one of our very own neighborhood representatives, Jay Polglaze, and wish him much success in his new position. We also congratulate Doreen DiPolito and wish her much success too.
So while the candidate forum blog gets built let's talk taxes. In 2004 and 2008 the citizens of Pinellas County voted to impose a one-half mill ad valorem tax to supplement public education. This tax generates about $30 million in revenue for the school board each year. The money is used to fund things like art, music, technology, and reading programs. It also adds about $3,000 to teacher salaries every year. Next year voters of Pinellas County will have to decide if this tax should be renewed for another four years.
Find out what's happening in Clearwaterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Pinellas County School District is the 24th largest in the United States and 7th largest in Florida. For several years the number of students the district serves has been declining and you can see the results of this decline by the . In August the and filled the . Oh, the school board also delayed the search for a permanent replacement for one year.
The school board has a lot of land that it owns but doesn't want to sell until the real estate market improves. When grant funds expire the district generally keeps the headcount acquired through those grants but then absorbs the costs through other means. Some critics say the school board needs to make some hard choices and deal with the economic reality of the times.
Find out what's happening in Clearwaterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
To its credit the school board accounts for nearly every dollar it gets from the supplemental ad valorem tax. You can read the Independent Citizens Referendum Oversight Committee (ICROC) report here, the report starts on page 11 but the superintendent's memo is on page 10.
So what do you think? Are you inclined to renew this tax? Do you think our governor will really allocate additional funds in next year's state budget for education? Could the district run things more efficiently? Have the times changed and is this tax still needed? If you are willing to vote to continue this tax, do you think the district should make some concessions too?
In the mean time, in Clearwater recently hosted "Winter Arts Night." Students and teachers worked hard to provide visitors with a delightful evening of sensory, auditory, and visual treats. Art work was showcased on walls while music filled the halls.
This video shows what happens when 100 students dressed in dark clothes put on white gloves and work together in a dark room in front of black lights.
Contact us to find out more about the Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition. You can comment about this blog below or you can take this to our forum.
