The Broward County tax collector has pushed back against the district's school board after members voted to take legal action against the office over a dispute regarding how $5 million from a school referendum were handled.
A referendum passed by voters in 2022 was intended to raise funds to benefit employee salaries, safety and security, and mental health at the school district. The school board found out in January that from $275 million raised last year, $5.6 million — or 2% — had been held back by the county tax collector as a commission fee.
In a unanimous vote last week, board members directed district lawyers to "explore any and all legal avenues... including conflict resolution and/or formal litigation," according to the agenda item, to capture the funds.
The county's tax collector, Abbey Ajayi, fired back, accusing the board of "misleading the public" in a statement on Tuesday.
Ajayi's office, which began work in January 2025, had stated the commission fee isn't new and complies with state law dating back decades in an op-ed she wrote published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel in March.
But district officials said the 2% collection goes against the standard that had been followed in previous years. Board members flagged the transaction's timing as another blow to the district's already delicate financial state due to plummeting enrollment, which has dug a $90 million hole in the budget.
“It is disingenuous for the Broward County School Board to attribute its financial management issues to the Tax Collector’s Office,” said Ajayi in the statement. "The Office is not responsible for their budget shortfall, nor for their failure to follow their own published guidelines."
The statement also says the Florida Department of Revenue already reviewed the tax collector’s governing statutes and agreed the collection fee is "the district’s responsibility absent a contrary agreement."
The Broward County Tax Collector has collected more than $2.1 billion year-to-date for the school board, $300 million more than the last fiscal year. The office says it's "entitled" to charge for its work.
School board members expressed shock on the dais after learning of the fee in January this year. But the tax collector office said they communicated the charge with the district.
"I have not received any such notification, nor has any correspondence been directed to my office or addressed to me," Superintendent Howard Hepburn said in a letter earlier this year. "It is my understanding that any notice may have been sent in error to an off-site District location rather than through the Superintendent's Office or appropriate executive channels."
Officials had, in fact, sent a letter about the money. But it went to a school board satellite office in Oakland Park.
The tax collector's office says the fee is part of a requirement established in Florida law in 1971.
"The notification from the Broward County Tax Collector was provided as a courtesy, not a requirement under the law," the statement reads.
