JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One day after a group of parents and grandparents took legal action against the City of Jacksonville to force a school sale tax vote, the Duval County school board is doing the same.
Duval County Public Schools has worked toward a sales tax referendum for school maintenance for months.
But things came to stop last month when City Council overwhelmingly voted to withdraw the bill that would give Duval residents the right to vote on the tax issue.
ow, less than a month since hiring a team of outside attorneys, the school board is working with Duval Teachers United to force the vote.
“Many of the district’s schools are in desperate need of maintenance, repair, renovation, and, in some cases, replacement to keep students safe and make the educational environment conducive to learning. Presently, this cannot be accomplished due to a severe lack of funding,” said the complaint filed Tuesday. “Despite its mandatory duty, the City of Jacksonville, through the City Council, has refused to put the School Capital Surtax on the ballot.”
The school board’s legal team — comprised by Scott Cairns, Hank Coxe and Audrey Moran — filed the 112-page complaint.
RELATED: Jacksonville City Council rebuffs Duval County School Board’s request for sales tax referendum
“Today the Duval County School Board and Duval Teachers United filed a complaint with the Circuit Court seeking to bring the issue of a School Capital Surtax before the voters of Duval County,” Coxe said. “The suit seeks to have the court declare that the city, through its City Council, has an obligation to place the issue on the ballot. Hopefully, this can be done before the end of the year, but at the latest, it should be on the ballot in November of 2020.”
According to the complaint, if the City of Jacksonville acts now to place the referendum on the ballot, a mail-in election could take place in December.
“Instead, the City, acting through its City Council, has failed or refused to place the School Capital Surtax on the ballot,” the complaint said. “As a consequence, the School District continues to incur $500,000 each month in increased deferred maintenance costs. These and other expenses would not be incurred if the building plan were submitted to the electorate and approved.”
According to the district, Duval schools ran up about $243 million in deferred maintenance as of last month, a number that goes up by about $500,000 monthly.
City Council President Scott Wilson declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit.
The legal team is asking for an expedited hearing and briefing schedule, citing the referendum’s “emergency nature.”
“Between now and the vote on this issue the school board looks forward to many discussions about the need for this surtax and the best way to use these funds to improve our school system,” Coxe said. “But the first step is to get this scheduled for a vote by the people of Jacksonville.”