School Property Tax Rate to Drop (for now) as Appraisals Rise

BRADENTON – At Tuesday's meeting, the Manatee School Board tentatively lowered its total property tax rate from $6.92 to $6.608. The drop occurred as the school district had been compelled by the state to lower the "required local effort" portion because of an overall increase in property values.

Weeks earlier, the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office had reported an 8.6 percent increase countywide in property values, meaning that many overall bills will still rise as a reflection of higher assessed values. At the new rate, a home with a taxable value of $100,000 will now have a school board property tax bill of $660.80.

That relief may only be temporary, however. Board members Dave Miner and Charlie Kennedy have been pushing hard to conduct a special election in March of 2018 that would put a referendum before voters to voluntarily add an extra mill toward school property taxes. The two members, however, have been unable to gather a majority of support for the effort thus far.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting, the board had been operating with only four seats, following the retirement of its longest serving member, Karen Carpenter. Board member John Colon has been against asking for another tax after already getting a 15-year extension of the optional half-cent sales tax in November and then turning around and bonding out $150 million in additional taxpayer debt just two months later.

Newly-elected member Gina Messenger has said she is not necessarily opposed to asking for an extra mill, but did show hesitation, while expressing particular concerns with the idea of a special election (which would cost tax payers approximately a quarter million dollars more) when it could be conducted at no cost and with more voter participation on that November's mid-term ballot.

That 2-2 split seemed to shift a bit this week. Prior to Tuesday's meeting, Carpenter's replacement, Scott Hopes, was sworn in after being appointed to fill the vacancy by Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Hopes was also against moving forward, particularly before the board was able to justify the increase and give a clear indication to taxpayers as to why a full mill is needed, what exactly it would be used for, and how the district could expect to benefit.