Election 2012: The Half Percent Solution

"Sherlock Holmes is playing the bad guy!" is what I recall saying as a child when I first watched "The Adventures of Robin Hood" on black and white television. 

I was an adult by the time I saw Robin Hood in color and learned that Basil Rathbone, despite losing two epic sword fights in the 1930s to Errol Flynn in "Captain Blood" and "Robin Hood", was the more experienced and better trained swordsman. I read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and watched many of Rathbone's cinematic portrayals of the famed detective, before eventually reading Holmes' 1976 return in "The Seven Percent Solution".

In 2002, Leon County Florida voters approved an additional half-percent sales tax for ten years, affectionately known as the "Half-Penny Sales Tax", to benefit Leon County Schools. In Leon County, Florida, the sales tax on all taxable goods is 7.5%, and the marginal .5% sales tax expires December 31, 2012.

Loss of tax revenue due to declining property values and the recent economic downturn have alarmed school officials, who decided not to pursue a quarter-millage increase in property taxes that would only affect homeowners, and are instead in favor of a continuation of the 7.5% sales tax, that would be paid by all residents, visitors and guests doing business in Leon County.

On November 6, Leon County voters are being given the option whether to renew the half-percent sales tax increase for another fifteen years. Leon County Schools employees are forbidden to directly ask for a vote to extend the additional sales tax. I have been a Leon County Schools volunteer for more than ten years, and will also not advocate a particular vote.

So that we may make an intelligent and informed decision at the 2012 general election, Godby High School Principal Shelly Bell has provided us with relevant sales tax facts and budgetary concerns in this presentation.

Please choose wisely!