If at first you don’t succeed, try again… And again. The South Sabine School District hopes the third time will be a charm for a tax proposition which has been twice rejected by voters.
This Saturday, voters of the South Sabine will have a third chance to decide on whether a property tax which was defeated twice at the polls last year may be reinstated. The voters already said no to the tax… Twice.
This time, if the District gets its way, the tax renewal will be retroactive, enabling the district to collect back taxes to acquire money lost due to the voters defeating its renewal.
Two times during 2015, the South Sabine School District asked voters to renew a 7.82 mill tax on all property in the District (which would generate an estimated $145,000 annually) beginning at the first of this year and continuing through the year 2025 “for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, improving, operating, maintaining and supporting public schools in the District (which would be the Florien Elementary and High School).”
The twice defeated proposition, if it would have been approved, would have been a renewal of a tax originally passed in 2005 for a 10 year period.
The District obtained special permission from the State to ask for the renewal a third time. And this time, with little else on the ballot Saturday, the District is hoping turnout numbers may work in favor of the tax this time.
Though Florien does have other sources of income and revenue, including another separate property tax still in place, school officials have stressed that this tax renewal is necessary to continue operating the schools in the manner they have been. It has been said that cuts will have to be made at the school if the tax is defeated again.
If the voters okay the tax this time around, it will be collected retroactively, meaning the first few months of this year during which the tax was no longer active will be included on taxpayer bills due next January.
The South Sabine School District includes all of the Florien area, along with surrounding communities such as Mount Carmel, Peason, Plainview, Dess, Antioch and communities and areas in South Toledo Bend, including Toro and many areas along the lake itself.