Culture voted out of tax plan

Penny tax would generate $2.7 billion

The curtain closed Tuesday on using money from a sales tax increase to expand theaters, art galleries, museums and other cultural institutions in Palm Beach County.

The County Commission voted 5-2 Tuesday to exclude $121 million in cultural projects and $40 million for economic development from a proposed sales tax increase.

The proposal would raise the sales tax rate from 6 cents per dollar to 7 cents, generating $2.7 billion over the next decade.

Cultural projects have dogged the sales tax pitch for months. Opponents argued the tax increase should be confined to improving roads and schools.

Commissioner Steven Abrams says he thinks the sales tax will be easier to sell to voters without the cultural projects muddying the waters. Under the new funding arrangement approved by the county, the school system would get 50 percent of that revenue, the county 30 percent and cities 20 percent.

But the plan could fall apart and never make it on the Nov. 8 ballot. The changes will now have to go back to the School Board and the cities for approval, a process that County Administrator Verdenia Baker says could take four to eight weeks.

Frank Barbieri, vice chairman of the School Board, suggested the school system might split from the county if commissioners keep tinkering with the plan.

Time is needed to sell the tax increase to voters, he told commissioners.

“We can either do this with you or do it without you,” Barbieri said. “I am asking you to please make a decision.”

The School Board meets Wednesday, and if it doesn’t sign off on the county’s changes, two competing half-cent tax increase proposals — one for schools and one for the county — could be on the ballot in the fall.

County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who made the motion to remove the cultural and economic development projects, said she thinks the School Board and cities will go along with the changes.

“They are all getting more money to do their own projects in their own backyard,” she said.

In a statement, Cultural Council CEO Rena Blades said cultural groups will re-evaluate their needs in light of Tuesday’s vote, and her organization wishes “the schools and county success and will support their efforts.”

Commissioner Hal Valeche and Shelley Vana cast opposing votes. Valeche favors issuing a bond instead of raising the sales tax. Vana opposed removing funding for cultural projects and economic development.

“We can either do this with you or do it without you. I am asking you to please make a decision.” Frank Barbieri, Vice chairman of the School Board on tinkering with the proposal by county commissioners