As Pasco County Schools heads into a new school year, the district faces a perennial issue: There’s not enough money to cover district construction and maintenance needs.
“Our current debt is about $525 million,” Chris Williams, director of planning told Pasco County School Board members during a workshop last week.
Pasco’s rapid growth continues to create demand for new or expanded schools, and the district’s list of maintenance needs is lengthy.
There are buildings “that aren’t even on the list, that we can’t even get to,” said Alison Crumbley, school board chairwoman.
“There are lots of projects that need to be done that are not being done,” Williams agreed.
The state reduced its Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) fund for Pasco County Schools to zero for next year, Williams said.
“We received $1.2 million in ’18-’19, but are projected to receive zero this year,” he said.
“Of course, as you can tell with the current debt, our capital needs continue to outpace our revenue.”
School Board member Allen Altman said for people who are unfamiliar with the district’s size and scope, it’s hard to fathom its needs.
“We have, as a district, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,400 individual buildings.
“You think about that and you look at the dollars that are here for maintenance and repair.
“We are below the estimated needed cost for the maintenance for our facilities. There is no golden pot of money,” Altman said.
So, as district staff deliberates on priorities, there is generally give-and-take between departments, Altman said.
He described how the conversations can go: One employee will say, “‘We can patch up this roof for one more year so you can get this safety thing you need done, over here.”
And, a food and nutrition employee will say: “OK, we’ll give up this serving line, so you all can fix that HVAC over there.”
“I want people to understand these are big dollar numbers we’re looking at, but when you spread over the number of campuses, the number of facilities and the amount of people coming in and out of them every day, just to maintain them — there is no pot of money sitting there,” Altman said.
The district must build new schools, renovate existing schools, fix roofs, paint buildings, provide buses, improve safety, upgrade technology, replace furniture and make myriad repairs, district officials say. The dollars simply don’t stretch far enough, they say.
There is some bright news, Williams said.
“In the tax roll, we’re projecting an 8.67 increase,” he said. This is the second year the county has exceeded the tax roll that was achieved back in 2007-2008.
The Penny for Pasco revenues also are projected to be up.
“Our Penny for Pasco collections continue to be at the highest level of collection since the inception of the Penny (tax).
In 2019-2020, the Penny revenue is projected to be $31.1 million, which Williams characterized as “very good news.”
The planning director also noted that impact fees are expected to come in at $26 million, which is higher than initially anticipated.
Even so, Altman said: “New residential growth never pays for itself. In spite of that impact fee number coming in higher than expected, it still does not cover our cost.”
Published July 31, 2019