HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — On Wednesday, Hillsborough County leaders weighed in on what's next for a half-percent sales tax that's been in place since 1996.
As county leaders debated a big decision, Damaris Allen sat and listened. The 1996 version of the Community Investment Tax was the first time she ever voted.
“We have had exponential growth in south county, and they have a huge need for additional schools, and without having the adequate funds, we’re not going to be able to meet the needs of the students and families in that area,” said Allen.
Nearly 30 years later, the issue is back again.
The Community Investment Tax, or CIT, is a half-percent sales tax that was approved by voters in 1996 for 30 years, created to fund things like capital improvement projects. That’ll expire in 2026.
The Hillsborough County School Board currently gets 25 percent of CIT revenue.
Hillsborough County Commissioners had directed staff to draft an ordinance to place a renewal of the existing half-percent CIT on the November 2024 ballot.
“We had to give a little bit on each side,” said Commissioner Michael Owen. “I feel like we did that, but we still accomplished some very important goals, and that’s freeing up a lot of money for roads, infrastructure, and public safety.”
On Wednesday, County Commissioners decided the Hillsborough School Board would receive five percent of the funds for the renewed CIT.
“Initially, it was 25 percent on the CIT. We were hoping to get that 10 percent, hopefully 10 percent over 15 years, which would’ve gotten us to that number. So we’re at the five percent number,” said Van Ayres, the Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent. “Grateful that we’re included in some type of way, as initially we were hearing rumblings that we were going to be excluded altogether.”
The board set the time period of the renewed CIT for 15 years and to put it on the ballot this November.
In the backdrop of all this, during Tuesday’s Hillsborough School Board meeting, the school board approved adding a millage referendum also on the November ballot.
ABC Action News asked the Superintendent if he has any concerns having potentially two tax referendums on the same ballot.
“No concerns at all because these are two separate, one is about operating costs with salaries, the other is with our capital needs and the growth that we have and the need to build new schools, so on my end, we’ll just have to make it very clear to our community the differences between the two," said Ayres.
As for next steps, Commissioners set a public hearing regarding the Community Investment Tax for April 17.
