School Board of Alachua County sets maximum property tax rate; members express concern about transfers from capital funds to balance budget
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their August 1 Special Meeting, the School Board of Alachua County set a maximum property tax rate and approved a tentative budget for FY2025 although two members expressed concerns about capital outlay funds being used to balance the budget.
Chief of Finance Gabrielle Jaremczuk presented a tentative budget summary for FY2025, with a total budget of $570 million ($334 million for General Fund), about $38 million less than the tentative budget that was presented to the board on July 24, with a large reduction in the Capital Projects Fund and an increase in the Special Revenue Fund.
Motion for property tax rate
Member Sarah Rockwell made a motion to adopt the proposed millage rate of 6.2610 mills, 2.66% lower than the current rate of 6.432 mills and 4.2% higher than the rolled-back rate of 6.0087 mills. The proposed rate would result in a tax bill of $7.64 more than last year for a property owner with a homesteaded property assessed at $200,000 in 2024. The motion was seconded by Member Leanetta McNealy.
There was no discussion of the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Motion to adopt proposed budget
Rockwell made a motion to adopt the proposed budget as presented, and McNealy seconded the motion. The resolution stated that the tentative budget is $597,413,050, while the presentation showed $570,166,332.
Certain concerned about budget “that exceeds the estimated revenue that we are expecting to get in”
Member Tina Certain, who was absent for the July 24 budget meeting, said she was concerned “about a budget coming forth that exceeds the estimated revenue that we are expecting to get in,” as well as an increase in the amount transferred from the 1.5 mill tax (which is intended for capital expenses) to the general fund to balance the budget: “That means we’re using capital money to cover allowable operational expenses. Although it’s allowable, it doesn’t mean it’s the best way to go because we have so few capital dollars to do so many projects… It’s kind of like using credit card debt to cover your daily expenditures. Even though you can do it, it’s just not a good practice… As a board, we have got to look at reducing our expenditures so that we can operate within the revenue stream which we’ve got coming.”
Budget Director Deborah Parrish said there will be some cost savings from not needing an outside operator at Lake Forest, but she believed that had already been taken out. She said the district is still negotiating on the contracts for the School Resource Officers, and some departments had offered to reduce their budgets, so there will be more changes.
Rockwell: using capital funds “is not a sustainable financial practice”
Rockwell said she was also concerned about transferring funds from capital funds “in order to balance the budget; I’m concerned that that is not a sustainable financial practice, year after year.” She said the district has “very limited capital funds” and “aging facilities in many areas of our county… I am not going to argue with doing that this year. You know, we have increasing expenses. I don’t think that our revenue is keeping up with that, but we’ll find out probably at the next [budget] meeting,” which will be on September 11.Â
Rockwell said she wanted “to make it clear to people in the community that these are allowable expenses – this transfer is what state statute says we can do. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for our district’s long-term future.” She said the board, the district leadership team, and the community need to examine new projects, existing projects, existing facilities, and existing staffing to make sure funds are being spent efficiently. She said she hoped the district could move toward neighborhood schools.
Rockwell said that, unlike the budget presented at the July 24 meeting, “it makes me feel much better that we have a balanced budget and that it doesn’t look like we’re going to have to take money out of our fund balance,… [but] transferring a lot of extra money out of our capital outlay is not a sustainable practice. And so, in the long run, we as a school district have some tough decisions to make.”
The motion passed unanimously.
I still don’t understand how a “poor” county manages to have better schools on a tighter budget. Teachers are even paid less–I know I retired as a 30+ FRS teacher, from a much poorer county. Now, I have 2 adult children with UF Masters who teach here & make less than I did. I thought moving to Gainesville would mean BETTER schools due to this prestigious university–NOT TRUE to my experience as a volunteer, parent & grandparent who pays 3 times the property taxes for a lesser domain. Something is wrong with this picture!
Lorane,
As the Back-Ward Mayor of Gainesville I don’t like what you are insinuating. The problem with your story occurs when you wrote, “I thought moving to” see here in Gainesville you are not supposed to think. You just do as I tell you and the rest of the commoners to do. The nerve of you actually thinking, I do all thinking that need to be done in this town and I spend upwards of 5 minutes a day thinking. Well to be honest 4 minutes and 45 seconds of that thinking I do is about donuts. There is just something about hot steaming nutz, in my mouth, oops did it again I mean donuts. Anyway Lorane stop all that thinking and just do as you are told. We want our teachers to raise idiots so we can stay in power. It took me years to ruin GRU and i am working on our school system now so just give me a little more time and I will have our school system in the same shape I got GRU too (at least the place I had GRU until Big Daddy Eddy B got his job back).
Sincerely Mayor back-Ward
It is supply & demand. Becuase of UF there are more trialing spouses of faculty and students that can teach, so the supply is high and wages are lower. It’s basic economics. Why would you expect teaching salaries to be higher just becuase UF is in Alachua county?
Yeah, that’s right listen to what Donny says, we pay our teacher low wages so only the dumb teachers who can’t teach anywhere else are employed by us. This way our dumb kids grow up to be dumb adults who keep electing people like me.
It isn’t difficult to determine that the Democrat run county we live, thrives on taxing the hell out of it’s residents. Don’t mind the fact they support giving away the bus to the people who don’t contribute or pay any taxes other than what they spend on beer, liquor & cigarettes, or other self-satisfying habits, (okay, no taxes on the latter).
Many get the point, except the liberal lemmings. Obviously, they aren’t teaching any financial responsibilities at the local educational facilities, or is it the liberal lemmings aren’t capable of learning? Then again, look at the picture of the person who hasn’t learned the Covid pandemic has been officially declared over.
Still waiting to hear what ranking District level leaders make as compared to teachers’ in the state. That may provide some insight as to their budget “expenditures and shortfalls.”
“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
-Mark Twain
OMG!! A HALF BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET?? Vote NO on renewing the optional property tax.
I see why the test scores are low now…
they got a he/she/it cow with a face mask on the ACSB..
It’s sick, It’s repulsive, It’s mental illness.
We need to see each others’ faces in order to communicate effectively.
That’s a face I can live comfortably without seeing it.
Loss of revenue is to be expected when you screw over families by taking away their access to nearby schools through a rezone that you think will fill eastside schools with westside students.
Deliberately not requesting school impact fees for decades, closing old Terwilliger, designing concurrency maps that allow builders unlimited access to build near overcrowded schools, and then claiming the state won’t let you build more schools.
Families will have no choice but to use the vouchers to find an alternative to forcing their children to be stuck on busses. It’s clear that you only care about certain families if this comes to pass.
Hey Sarah, the pandemic is over!