After nearly five hours spent reviewing and discussing Alachua County Public Schools’ facilities needs and the options available for meeting those needs, the School Board has directed Superintendent Dan Boyd to begin planning a half-cent sales tax referendum to be held in the fall.

District staff members presented a list of long term facilities needs that include renovations, remodeling and repair and maintenance at existing schools and the construction of both new schools and new classrooms at existing schools. Altogether the district has about $427 million in facilities needs. About 55% of that amount is needed for building new classrooms, the rest to repair and upgrade existing facilities.

During the next five years, the district projects it will have only about $54 million dollars available to meet those needs. That money comes from a combination of state dollars and local property taxes.

“There just aren’t enough capital dollars to do everything we need to do,” said Terry Tougaw, the district’s director of community planning and zoning.

Following a discussion about the best way to raise the money needed, School Board members agreed to support a half-cent sales tax and directed Boyd to begin planning for a vote on the sales tax during the general election in November.

If approved by voters, the half-cent sales tax would go into effect in January of 2007. The revenues raised could only be spent on facilities needs. It’s estimated that a significant portion of the sales tax revenue--about 30%--would come from visitors to Alachua County. The half-cent surtax would also be limited to the first $5000 of any purchase, meaning the maximum schools sales tax that would be paid on any item would be $25.

Currently Alachua County’s tax rate is 6.25%, meaning the half-cent increase would raise the total to 6.75%. That rate is still lower than the tax rate in all surrounding counties except Marion County, which has a rate of 6.5%. The Marion County rate does include a half-cent sales tax for schools approved by voters in November of 2004.

“It will be our job over the coming months to demonstrate to voters that this is a wise investment in our schools and our communities,” said Boyd. “You can’t have good quality neighborhoods without good quality schools.”

District staff members presented a preliminary facilities needs list at today’s School Board workshop. That plan will be reviewed over the next several months by parents and staff at individual schools who will then provide input. School Board members and district staff will also be looking for additional ways to reduce some of the facilities costs included on the preliminary list.

“This is taxpayers’ money, and we have to be frugal with it,” said School Board chairman Wes Eubank.