Sarasota County vote on school tax punts long-term decision back to courtroom

Sarasota County commissioners finalized a plan this week to pick up the bill for more than $2 million that Tax Collector Mike Moran withheld from Sarasota County Schools to process a voter-approved referendum for education.

But they only agreed to cover the annual expense until an ongoing lawsuit between the tax collector and the school district is resolved in court. After that, commissioners said they would revisit who exactly would cover the fee going forward based on the judge’s ruling. 

“I don’t want to see us pay something that is not something we should be paying,” Commissioner Teresa Mast said at the meeting. “And I think that hopefully the courts will resolve this issue.”

For months, Moran’s office and the school district have sparred over a 2% commission to process the additional one mill levy on property values that had been covered by the county for more than two decades. The voter-approved property tax raises millions of dollars annually to pay for teachers, support staff and equipment.

But after taking office last year, Moran challenged the longstanding arrangement, and county commissioners have flip-flopped over whether to pay it — first voting over summer not to continue covering the fee and then reversing course earlier this month.

The school district and two taxpayers sued Moran’s office over the issue in April – and county officials have since been stuck in the middle, with Commissioner Tom Knight framing the commission’s previous decision to stop paying as a mistake that needed correcting.

A draft of the proposed resolution included in the county’s agenda packet for Tuesday’s meeting called for the county to pick up the fee charged to the school district through 2030 when the voter-approved tax sunsets.

But commissioners stopped short of going that far.

Connor confirmed that Moran has already released the funds that were withheld to the school district for this year’s budget. But Moran’s office also filed a motion on Friday to dismiss the circuit court case, doubling down on his position that the money charged to the school district was legal.

Moran took Tuesday’s decision by county commissioners as a victory.

“The County Commission unanimously approved a resolution that confirms we were following the law,” he wrote in an email. 

Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor | Chloe Nelson, Your Sun

The issue of who pays the commission surfaced over the summer when the school district received notice in September that a fee would be charged to Sarasota County Schools, just weeks before the district’s budget was set to be finalized. 

Connor said the loss for the school district created an unplanned deficit.

“When you take all the factors that are squeezing school districts, it’s an unforced error by the tax collector,” Connor said. “We are already facing a combination of factors relating to our budget.”

Meanwhile, Moran has accused the school district of wasting taxpayer funds by litigating. 

He previously said the tax collector’s office in Manatee County — where a similar dispute is playing out — was seeking an attorney general opinion on the issue. Suncoast Searchlight has confirmed Manatee County’s tax collector drafted the request but never sent it.

“We had offered to wait for that opinion if (Moran) would return the money and stop collecting the fee,” Connor said. “He did not agree.”

Daniel DeLeo, an attorney representing Sarasota County Schools, said the district will respond to the latest motion and continue fighting the issue in court. He blasted last week’s court filing by Moran’s office.

“Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address redefined American history in 272 words. This is a ridiculous 66-pages of fluff, irrelevancies, and smoke and mirrors,” he wrote in a text message to Suncoast Searchlight. “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.”

Derek Gilliam is a watchdog/investigative reporter for Suncoast Searchlight. Email him at derek@suncoastsearchlight.org.