Hillsborough schools vs. county commission: Here’s what’s in the lawsuit

The Hillsborough County School District is asking a judge to order the county commission to take action by Aug. 13 on a stalled property tax referendum, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court.

The school board had agreed to put the question, involving a tax of $1 for every $1,000 in taxed property value, before the voters on Nov. 5. The proceeds would boost employee pay and, district leaders hoped, help ease a critical teacher shortage.

The lawsuit suggests a timeline to avoid missing an Aug. 20 deadline for the Supervisor of Elections to prepare the ballot.

Lawyers asked the court to require a response from the county commission by Friday so they can reply to the county by July 30, “in advance of the deadline to place items on the ballot, which looms only because of the Commission’s indolence.” On Wednesday, Circuit Judge Emily Peacock directed both parties to follow this timetable.

While the word “indolence” means laziness, critics of the move suggest the series of delays were deliberate.

The school board approved a property tax referendum for the November ballot on April 2. The following week, according to the suit, the district transmitted the taxing resolution to commission chairperson Ken Hagan and county administrator Bonnie Wise.

After receiving the resolution, “the commission allowed two months (and four regular meetings) to pass” before placing it on an agenda for June 20, the suit states, then postponing it to July 17.

At the July 17 meeting, county commissioners conceded that state law compelled them to pass the resolution along to the Supervisor of Elections. But they scheduled it for November 2026 instead of 2024.

The suit accused commissioners, who said Hillsborough residents were already burdened with escalating housing costs, of “substituting their own opinions for those of the public.”

By doing so, the lawsuit states, “the commission attempts to deprive the voters of the right to consider the millage referendum and prevent the voters from determining whether Hillsborough County Public Schools should have this additional funding source to enhance teacher pay over the next two years.”

The state law that the district cites in the suit says that the school board “shall direct the county commissioners to call an election” in which voters can decide on the taxing question.

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The suit contends that “a county commission enjoys no discretion when receiving such direction. It must direct the supervisor of elections to place the school board’s referendum on the ballot of the general election selected by the school board.”

It will be up to the judge to decide if the case can move forward, and along the timeline the school district has outlined to meet the Aug. 20 deadline.

A county spokesperson said Wednesday that the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office does not comment on pending litigation.

Not everyone on the school board agrees with the district’s legal position. The board’s vote Tuesday was 4-3.

Member Patti Rendon said she spent the weekend reading statutes and legal opinions. She said that an attorney general’s opinion involving a case in Hernando County seemed to support the county commission’s action.

“If they had no authority to do what they did, we wouldn’t have to go there,” Rendon said at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “We would send it to the supervisor of elections ourselves.”

But, Rendon said, because state law gives the county commission the authority to put the referendum on the ballot, “that gives them the authority of when.”

Attorney Jim Porter told Rendon and the other board members that this question will be taken up in court.

Speaking at a news conference in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis sided with the county commission.

“We’ve done so much at the state level that I think if they manage (it) properly, they’re going to be able to do their part at the local level, but demanding tax increases is absolutely not the way to go,” he said. “And I think that you’re going to see some changes, probably, in this election on the school board, because I think taxpayers are sick of it.”

Times staff writers Sue Carlton and Divya Kumar contributed to this story.