Hillsborough blocks tax to raise teacher pay from this year’s ballot

Using an obscure law and arguing that prices are too high for area residents, the Hillsborough County Commission voted 4-3 to keep a schools tax off of the November ballot.

School district leaders had hoped to follow the lead of other large and neighboring districts in collecting money through a property surtax that would go toward higher pay for teachers and other school employees.

If approved by voters in the fall, the tax of $1 on every $1,000 in assessed value would have brought in an estimated $177 million to ease chronic teacher shortages. The district had hope to use the proceeds to pay yearly bonuses of $6,000 to teachers and administrators, and $3,000 to support staff.

State law would not allow the county board to kill the tax proposal outright.

But, according to commissioner Josh Wostal, the law did allow the board to rule on the timing of the referendum. He moved that the referendum date should be changed from November 2024 to 2026.

Board members Ken Hagan, Christine Miller and Donna Cameron Cepeda voted with Wostal. Voting in dissent were members Pat Kemp, Harry Cohen and Gwen Myers.

This is a developing story and will be updated.