Sales tax review panel to expand

School Board OKs 18-member proposal

The Palm Beach County School Board on Wednesday agreed to expand a committee, already set to be the largest in the school system, that will monitor spending of a new sales tax.

The Independent Sales Surtax Oversight Committee, which will review use of the voter-approved, one-cent tax, will have 18 members, up from the proposed 16, representing an assortment of age groups, ethnicities and technical expertise.

Although some board members said the size of the panel could make meetings unwieldy, others pressed for a voice from their neighborhoods or other groups they say were not proposed for representation.

“Forty-four percent of the community did not support the sales tax,” board member Erica Whitfield said. “How do we reach out to people who may not have already been on our side?”

Voters last month approved the tax, which begins in January

and will last 10 years. It is expected to generate about $2.7 billion, which will go to schools and other public construction projects.

Membership on the oversight committee, similar to participants on a panel that monitored a schools tax approved by voters in 2004, includes representatives of the Urban League, Economic Council, Florida Atlantic University and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

South county residents will have heavy representation compared to other parts of the county, including appointments from the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations and West Boca Community Council.

Board member Frank Barbieri requested the inclusion of a member of the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, which was approved by the board. The board also added a representative from The Acreage in western Palm Beach County.

Most schools in the district that are at least 10 years old will get new roofs, air conditioners and technology through the tax. Several schools will be completely rebuilt, including Verde and Addison Mizner elementary schools in Boca Raton and Pine Grove Elementary in Delray Beach.

The panel is expected to begin meeting in the spring. It cannot change a plan for use of the tax designed by the school district, but can recommend alterations that would have to be approved by the School Board.

The board also agreed to send letters to city and county officials to ask them to consider school safety as they rebuild roads, bike lanes, fences and sidewalks with sales tax money.