Tax bills could go up next year to pay for school cops

Broward school officials want to take the burden of paying the police officers who stand guard at public schools away from the cities. And to do it, they want to increase your property taxes.

Broward property owners now pay $6.31 for every $1,000 in taxable value on their homes and businesses to fund public schools, according to tax records.

The proposal, which would have to be approved by the Florida Legislature, adds another 50 cents to the tax bill for every $1,000 in taxable value. That would create another $90 million each year to pay for the School Resource Officers, according to John J. Sullivan, director of legislative affairs for Broward County Public Schools.

There’s no legislation yet in writing, but officials are hoping it gets included in a safety bill that will be filed within weeks, Sullivan said. If it’s not included, the School District will ask Broward state representatives and senators to support an amendment to the bill.

The School District envisions it will not need voter approval, Sullivan told legislators Wednesday.

And it won’t add more police to school campuses, either.

But it would change which government agency is responsible for the tab, and free up the cities to spend their own tax-generated money elsewhere.

The statewide bill would be generic and intended for school safety and permit all school districts in Florida to approve the additional tax if they need it. State Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, said some districts might prefer to use it for “school hardening” — or fortifying for safety.

Daley said he is “toying” with the idea of becoming one of the bill sponsors, but wants to see voter approval required for a new tax.

The idea, he said, creates equity, because some cities pay for the police officers and others — who don’t have schools in their city and their students attend elsewhere — don’t all contribute to the burden.

At least three cities, for example, don’t chip in for the cost of school resource officers. Students living in Hillsboro Beach attend school in Pompano Beach or Deerfield Beach depending on their grade. Lauderdale-by-the-Sea students attend school in Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale. And students in Lighthouse Point generally attend school in Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach.

Margate Mayor Arlene Schwartz said in her city, school resource officers are already well-funded, and she questions the need for higher school taxes.

“I can’t imagine why they want to do that, I don’t know what the benefit is to them,” she said. “If they really wanted to fund School Resource Officers we wouldn’t have to argue with them every year.”

She said Margate pays for more than half the bill to fund the five officers who roam four schools. The city pays $518,200 of the cost, and the School Board chips in another $244,800 for the annual expense, according to city records.

School Board member Debbi Hixon said the idea would alleviate cities being stuck with the cost.

“It would take the burden off the municipalities,’ she said. “It would cover the cost where the District was just paying for the officers and the municipalities would not have to keep doing that.”