‘You are playing games’: School tax fight erupts after Sarasota vote

Local officials thought a dispute over who would pay to collect a voter-approved school tax had been settled when Sarasota County commissioners agreed in a surprise vote this week to resume covering the millions of dollars withheld by Tax Collector Mike Moran. 

Turns out, the fight isn’t over. 

Behind the scenes, county, school and tax officials spent the next few days sparring over whether Tuesday’s commission vote actually restored the decades-old practice — or whether another formal vote would be required before the money could be released to the school district, according to emails obtained by Suncoast Searchlight.

The dispute centers on a voter-approved property tax that raises millions of dollars annually for Sarasota County Schools to pay for teachers, support staff and equipment. For more than two decades — through multiple referendums — the county had covered the fees. But after taking office last year, Moran challenged the arrangement and convinced commissioners to end the practice, which they did in an August vote. 

Since then, Moran has withheld more than $2 million from school tax revenues to cover collection fees, triggering a lawsuit filed against Moran’s office on April 24 by the school board and two county taxpayers.

On Tuesday, the county commission reversed course, voting 3-2 to once again cover the collection fees.

Just hours after that vote, the school board sent notice to Moran’s office demanding the immediate release of the millions of dollars it had already withheld in fees. 

What followed was a series of communications between the Tax Collector’s Office, Sarasota County attorneys and school district officials that revealed uncertainty, disagreement and no immediate path forward.

In a letter sent the next day to County Administrator Jonathan Lewis and Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor, Moran referenced the school district’s demand but said his office needed written clarification on how the arrangement would be carried out.

In the meantime, Moran said, his office would continue collecting commissions and handling excess funds according to his interpretation of state law until it received “a formal agreement and clear direction from both parties.”

Shortly afterward, Deputy Tax Collector Bradley Ellis, who is also the office’s general counsel, sent an email to county attorneys asking that they respond to the school district’s demand to immediately release the withheld funds. 

“My understanding, after our discussion earlier today, is that County Administration does not yet possess actionable authority and needs to bring this issue back before the BoCC (Board of County Commissioners) at the earliest opportunity,” Ellis wrote.

In the same email, Ellis asked county officials to clarify whether Tuesday’s commission vote gave them the authority to act and, if not, when commissioners would need to take additional formal action.

In response, Daniel DeLeo, an attorney who represents the school district, fired off an email to Ellis insisting that the commission’s decision was “very clear.” 

“You and I both know that they rescinded the August vote that declared they would not pay the commission. The public understands this. The effect of this vote is that the County Commission is responsible for the commission. You are playing games and you are better than this,” DeLeo wrote, before adding that “Moran is gaslighting the taxpayers and voters of Sarasota County.”

On Thursday, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis emailed Connor, saying that the commissioner’s vote on the issue had not been anticipated and had not been on the agenda.

“Give us a bit of time to figure out the procedural steps that (the) county must follow and I will get back to you,” Lewis wrote to Connor.

County officials now question how this decision was any different from the August vote to stop paying the fees, which was never challenged.

That decision also was not on the agenda. 

During the August budget workshop, County Commissioner Teresa Mast brought up a July 28 letter from Moran where he questioned the more than two-decade arrangement that had the county picking up the cost to collect the tax.

Moran’s letter was not in the publicly available backup materials for the meeting and was not an item on the agenda for public comment and review.

“What’s the difference between that and what we did Tuesday?” Commissioner Tom Knight said.

County spokesperson Josh Taylor said the reason county commissioners may need to vote again was that the decision could impact the budget. 

“We need to figure out the financial details of this change, which could impact the budget, obviously,” Taylor wrote in an email to Suncoast Searchlight. “So, doing some due diligence to figure out the costs is necessary and will take some time.” 

DeLeo told Suncoast Searchlight on Thursday that the tax collector’s stance aggravated him and that he had responded in anger, noting his decades of work advocating for the referendum and his own personal history where many of his family members have served as educators. 

He said since that email, there’s been more discussions after prominent local attorney Morgan Bentley filed legal notice to represent the tax collector as outside legal counsel in the lawsuit with the school district.

A meeting has been tentatively set for sometime next week, DeLeo said.

“We’re happy to talk,” DeLeo said, pointing out it’s always better to settle a dispute without litigation. “But sometimes people have to be dragged kicking and screaming.”

Still, what the county commission will have to do to formalize their Tuesday vote remains unclear.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed in April is ongoing.

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