Voters approve tax increase to improve schools in Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County voters on Tuesday agreed to a new property tax that will upgrade school security, guarantee school elective programs and increase teacher salaries.
The tax quadruples an existing school property tax to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value. The owner of a $225,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption would see a tax increase of $150 per year.
In 2014, voters had approved a 25 cent tax for every $1,000 in value to pay for 650 arts and elective teachers. That tax expires this year but has been rolled into the newly approved levy.
The new tax is expected to pay these expenses:
$100 million will supplement teacher salaries, an effort to stem the turnover rate. Teachers with one to five years of experience would get $1,000 a year, those with six to nine years would get $5,000 a year and teachers with 10 or more years of experience would get $10,000 a year for the duration of the tax.
$50 million will continue the arts teacher program and allow the school district to hire additional elective teachers.
$50 million will pay for additional school security officers and mental health counselors. These are requirements of the new Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, passed after the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland that killed 17. The tax would allow the district to double the size of its police force to 300 officers and give each one the proper equipment. Every elementary school would have an officer on campus, middle schools would have two and high schools would have two or three, depending on their size.
The new levy is not the only school-related tax approved by Palm Beach County voters in recent years. Voters passed a onecent sales tax in November 2016 that helps pay for new roofs, air conditioning, paving and other infrastructure projects.
Voters on Tuesday offered mixed opinions on paying a new tax for schools.
“I don’t support new taxes,” said Andy Keith, 55, of Boca Raton, a Republican who voted no at the Center for Spiritual Living on Southwest 12th Avenue.
Nancy Hultman, 76, a Republican and semi-retired nurse, agreed.
“I don’t think seniors should be responsible for that,” Hultman said.
But Terezinha Andrade, 72, a retiree from Boca Raton who has no party affiliation, supported the tax.
“I think they need more security and they don’t have the money,” Andrade said.
The school district, which has 189 schools and 170,000 students, says the state is not offering enough money to comply with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act, passed by the state Legislature after the Feb. 14 massacre at the Parkland school. The law requires law enforcement and improved mental health care on every campus.
The district got an additional $5.9 million for security from the state, but Chief Financial Officer Mike Burke said the money will not cover the cost of new officers or their armor, uniforms and vehicles. Schools will get $3.9 million for mental health care but need $14 million to have a social worker or therapist on each campus, he said.
He said the district has lost about $200 million a year over the past four years due to tax cuts by the Legislature.