The Duval County School Board is once again facing opposition from City Council members about putting a voter referendum for taxes on the ballot.
This time a City Council committee deferred voting on legislation that would put a choice on the November ballot for voters to decide if they favor extending a property tax that pays for enhanced teacher salaries.
Seven years ago, City Council held off putting a half-cent sales tax for school construction on the November 2019 ballot until the School Board sued the city after months of delay.
At stake now is whether Duval County voters will be able to cast ballots in November on continuing a separate 1 mill property tax that voters backed in 2022 for boosting teacher salaries.
Superintendent Christopher Bernier said during the School Board’s monthly meeting June 2 that school officials would be talking with the council and attorneys about the implications of the vote’s delay.
“My goal continues to be to give our voters their voice in November,” the superintendent said.
Council ‘playing with fire’ Matt Carlucci says
The June 2 deferral supported by City Council President Kevin Carrico means the legislation won’t get a full council vote on June 9 unless Carrico decides to discharge it or two-thirds of council members force a discharge bringing it to the floor.
The other outcome is the legislation gets pushed back to at least June 23 for a vote by the full council. An attorney in the city’s Office of General Counsel said that appears to be the final chance for council to get it on the November ballot so voters can decide whether they want to keep the 1-mill property tax or end it.
If there is no referendum, the 1-mill property tax will automatically end.
City Council member Matt Carlucci said council members voting to defer the legislation “are playing with fire.”
He said that by law, the council’s role is to simply put the referendum on the ballot, not second-guess the 5-1 vote by the School Board calling for it.
“You’re playing with students,” he said. “You’re playing with teacher’s lives.”
Three City Council Finance Committee members — Raul Arias, Rory Diamond and Ron Salem — voted for deferral. Finance Committee members Joe Carlucci, Will Lahnen and Ju’Coby Pittman voted against deferral and supported putting the referendum on the ballot.
Finance Committee member Nick Howland was absent. Carrico, using his power as council president to vote in committee, supported deferral in a 4-3 vote.
Council opponents question need for property tax
Salem and Arias said they don’t think the school district needs to keep collecting the 1 mill property tax.
“The whole notion about teacher’s pay and salaries, that’s a false narrative because at the end of the day, just like we have to trim a lot of fat here on City Council, they also have to do their due diligence and trim their fat as well, too,” Arias said. “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of dollars they can save without affecting teacher salaries.”
Salem pointed to the vote by the Florida Legislature for a statewide referendum on increasing the homestead exemption so homeowners would pay less at tax time for city and county governments.
“I think the world has changed with what’s going on in Tallahassee with the property taxes,” Salem said. “One of the reasons I’m voting ‘no’ is we have to give relief to our citizens.”
Other council members said opponents can campaign against the referendum if they want but the role of council is to put the referendum on the ballot as directed by a 5-1 vote by the Duval County School Board.
Pittman said council should give voters a chance to have their say and “let the chips fall where they may.”
City Council member Rahman Johnson said council cannot do anything to alter the proposal the School Board is bringing to voters.
“If it goes to the ballot, truly the people get to decide,” Johnson said.
Finance committee’s third vote results in deferral
Deputy General Counsel Mary Staffopoulos told City Council several times that according to state law, the School Board passes a resolution directing City Council to tell the elections supervisor to put the referendum on the ballot. She said that is simply a ministerial action of the council.
But some council members didn’t view their role as ministerial.
The committee originally deadlocked 3-3. According to council rules, a tie vote causes a deferral.
Lahnen then agreed to change his “yes” vote to a “no” vote so it was 4-2 against it, allowing the legislation to advance out of committee. Lahnen said he would be voting for it in the full council.
School district representatives who were in council chambers then left the meeting. But after the Finance Committee spent time on other business, Carrico and Diamond sought another vote on deferring the legislation.
Carrico said he objected to Lahnen changing his vote in order to advance the bill out of committee.
“So I think a deferral best suits what the committee desired and that’s the accurate vote and that’s how we should move it,” he said.
Duval County votes approved the 1 mill property tax rate in August 2022 with 53% approval. Continuing the tax through June 2030 is projected to generate $121 million yearly that the district will mainly use to improve pay for teachers, security and other school staff.
Matt Carlucci said the district’s rise to becoming an A-rated school district shows the support for boosting teacher salaries resulted in better education of students.
“We’ve been talking about trying to have a partnership with the School Board,” Carlucci said as he argued against deferral. “This is a great way to kind of foul that up.”
Florida Times-Union reporter Steve Patterson contributed to this report
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: City Council opposition delays putting school referendum on ballot
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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