I-Team uncovers questionable Polk County land deal

POLK COUNTY, Fla. - It's a land deal that is coming back to haunt the Polk County School Board. At a time when communities across Florida are being forced to make massive cuts in programs and staffing because of sharp decreases in state funding, new attention is being given to what some believe was a bad real estate deal made in Lakeland by the Polk County School Board.

Why, some people are asking, would the Polk County School Board pay over $7.4 million for 185 acres along Tenoroc Mine Road?

LD Wilcox is a retired Polk County middle school principal who's become a regular gadfly at school board meetings.

"What can we do now?" He recently asked. "We're stuck and we just have to get as much out of that property as we can. Cut where we need to cut but I always say children shouldn't have to suffer for our mistake."

Wilcox was there five years ago when the school board voted unanimously to buy the property from Lakeland resident Brenda Swilley for $7.4 million -- almost a $1.5 million over the appraised value of the property, according to the company hired by the school board to assess it.

The intended use? Vague references are made in a school board resolution for the need of a stadium and schools.

"They were assuming a lot. People were coming but jobs were not coming to Polk County," Wilcox said.

Now, of course, there are regular headlines about the school's efforts to cut millions to make up for budget shortfalls.

So why did the school board buy the property and the swamp land at a price well above the appraised value? We asked but no one would talk to us on camera.

Instead, we got a statement from the attorney representing the school board that said "it is a common practice" to negotiate a purchase price that is higher than the appraised value to avoid the cost of taking the land by eminent domain.

The school board didn't stop at $7.4 million for the 185 acres.

They bought another 20-acres of adjoining property from Peggy Raines and her late husband for over $600,000.

"They came to us and asked if we were willing to sell," said Raines. "Thank God we sold it but I would like to see the county do something back here."

The school board told us there are no immediate plans to do anything with the property.

And LD Wilcox laments it's money that would have come in handy to offset massive cuts affecting the education of kids in Polk County.

"This should be a lesson and we should also be reminded that the children are the one suffering for it because they don't have the money from them," Wilcox said.

In the current market there's no way the school board could sell the property for what it paid for it. So the board said it's holding on to the acreage until the time additional facilities are needed.