Gregg Laskoski and Lori Sowers, CPA gave an update on the Half Cent Sales Tax Accountability Committee to the school board on Dec. 12, 2017.
Laskoski reminded the public that the half cent sales tax was approved by the voters in 2015, in association with an accountability committee whose purpose is to “ensure that every dime devoted exclusively to school infrastructure and repairs was going exactly where we expect.”
Laskoski stated, “It’s a pleasure to tell you that the revenue is increasing and the review of this revenue undergoes a very thorough process. We have a committee of five. We started with seven, through circumstances beyond our control, we’re down to five. Reliable sources tell us that we may have an applicant that recently surfaced.”
He said that the committee hears from the district’s personnel, namely Kendra Sittig in accounting, Joyce McIntyre, Eric Van De Boogaard, Director of Facilities Operations who informs them of the status of a broad number of projects.
Laskoski pointed out that because of Hurricane Irma, quite a few of the projects had hit delays.
Lori Sowers, CPA, stated that for most of the months of the year, revenue was up $30,000-$40,000 per month in comparison to the same month during the prior year.
She gave the following review of revenues since the start of the half cent sales tax. “We started collecting in March 2016, for January 2016 sales and the total collected through Sept. 30, 2017 is $16,093,183. In addition to that we do an interest from SunTrust from the money that’s sitting in the account while it’s being churned. We did earn about $36,500 in interest so the total revenues through Sept. 30, 2017 is $16,129,740. Of that money through Sept. 30 the PO’s (purchase orders) that were approved were $12,276,675 and the amount paid out was $8,571,535. She said the committee goes through expenditures line by line and “everything has been spent the way it’s supposed to be spent.”
Laskoski mentioned that if anyone is interested in looking at the figures – all numbers are on the district website.
In regards to capital improvement funding, community member Mr. Anthony Palmieri commented, “The half cent has given you more than you have in the budget. This is the point I was trying to make at budget time. This convinces me more and more that you probably did not need both the half penny and the 1.5 mills for capital improvements. You could have reduced the 1.5 mills or maybe done away with it… Perhaps you can do that next year.”
An expenditure in the amount of $1.1 million out of the half cent revenue fund was approved by the board for Phase 1 of Hernando High School HVAC improvements. The total project is expected to cost $9.37 million. The project was awarded to Allstate Construction on Dec. 12, 2017.