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Education

Keys Schools Seek Extension On Property Tax For Operating Costs

Nancy Klingener
/
WLRN
The Monroe County School District is seeking renewal of a sales tax that raises $15 million a year for operating costs, including teacher salaries.

Monroe County voters will have more than just presidential primary candidates to consider on their March 17 ballots—all voters, regardless of party, will be asked to weigh in on an ongoing tax earmarked for teachers.

In 2004, Monroe County voters approved a property tax to help pay for operating costs in schools. It's been re-approved every four years since then and it's on the ballot again this year.

The tax is .5 mill. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 in taxable value. So the owner of a home valued at $500,000 would pay $250.

The tax now raises $15 million a year and it helps make teachers in the Keys among the highest paid in the state, averaging just under $60,000. School Board member Andy Griffiths says the district has to pay more than most, because it costs so much to live in the Keys. 

If voters reject the tax, the effect on the Monroe school system would be "catastrophic," Griffiths said.

"If you have roughly a thousand employees, it's pretty simple math. It's $15,000 per employee that would need to be cut to balance the budget," he said.

Back in 2004, the Monroe school board first asked voters to approve the tax and promised to keep the amount raised for building schools at half of what they could charge under state law. Griffiths says that's because the district collects a half-percent sales tax in the Keys.

"The visitors pay about 60 percent of the sales taxes collected," he said. "So you kind of have the tourists building the schools."

The vote is March 17. Vote by mail ballots have already gone out. Early voting in Monroe County is scheduled for March 2-14, including weekends.

Nancy Klingener was WLRN's Florida Keys reporter until July 2022.
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