In Sarasota, the school district sued Moran<\/a> in April after his office began withholding a 2% commission tied to the district\u2019s voter-approved 1-mill property tax referendum \u2014 a levy that\u2019s equal to $1 taxes per $1,000 of taxable property value and which raises millions of dollars annually to pay for teachers, support staff and school operations.<\/p>\n For more than two decades \u2014 and through multiple such referendums \u2014 Sarasota County has covered the collection cost.<\/a> But after Moran took office in January 2025, he urged the county commissioners to shift the expense onto the school district, arguing state law required the change despite little precedent elsewhere for charging the school district directly.<\/p>\n Courtesy of James Buchanan\u2019s office\/Suncoast Searchlight<\/p>\n State Rep. James Buchanan, R-Osprey, proposed legislation aimed at clarifying who pays the cost of collecting voter-approved school taxes.<\/p>\n Buchanan told Suncoast Searchlight he began working on the proposal after following the nonprofit newsroom\u2019s coverage of the Sarasota dispute<\/a> and hearing concerns from constituents frustrated that voter-approved school tax dollars were being diverted from classrooms. He also said his concerns grew as similar conflicts emerged in other Florida districts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen voters approved this referendum (in Sarasota), they did so with a clear expectation: that the money would support our students, strengthen our schools and keep our children safe, not get lost in bureaucracy,\u201d Buchanan said in a statement to Suncoast Searchlight.<\/p>\n Buchanan said the special session allowed him to address the situation, resulting in what he hopes will end any confusion behind the Legislature\u2019s intent relating to tax collection fees charged to school districts. His proposal became public shortly after noon on Tuesday as part of HB 7031E<\/a>, otherwise known as the tax package.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an opportunity in this tax package to provide statutory clarity and flexibility so these dollars are used the way voters intended,\u201d Buchanan\u2019s statement continued. \u201cWhen it comes to our kids and their education, it\u2019s simply the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Last summer, Sarasota County commissioners agreed to shift collection costs from the county onto the school district.<\/p>\n But after the school board and two county taxpayers sued Moran and his office this spring, the commissioners reversed course and agreed once again to cover the fees while the litigation played out.<\/p>\n Even then, Moran said his office would continue collecting commissions and handling excess funds according to his interpretation of state law until it received \u201ca formal agreement and clear direction from both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n That agreement came last week, but the underlying legal dispute remains unresolved<\/p>\n If approved, the legislative measure could effectively resolve the central dispute in the school board\u2019s lawsuit by clarifying in state law that schools should not bear the collection costs \u2014 as Moran had argued.<\/p>\n Office of the Sarasota County Tax Collector\/Suncoast Searchlight<\/p>\n Sarasota County Tax Collector Mike Moran<\/p>\n Moran said if the measure becomes law, he would waive the fee.<\/p>\n \u201cThis would be a historic win for our community and our children,\u201d Moran said in a statement. \u201cBy changing the law, the Legislature has validated our legal position under the old statute and now given us the authority to waive these fees directly in support of our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel DeLeo, an attorney representing Sarasota County Schools, called the legislative proposal \u201ca repudiation\u201d of Moran\u2019s interpretation of state law.<\/p>\n The proposal has drawn concern from the Florida Tax Collectors Association, however.<\/p>\n In an email obtained by Suncoast Searchlight, the association\u2019s general counsel and lobbyist, Timothy Qualls, warned Tuesday that allowing tax collectors to waive the fees would turn a mandatory statutory entitlement into a discretionary decision that could create recurring political pressure on tax collectors to give up commissions they are otherwise entitled to receive.<\/p>\n \u201cSo long as the commission cannot be waived, no one can ask a tax collector to give it up,\u201d he wrote in the email. \u201cOnce waiver becomes possible, it becomes something that can be requested.\u201d<\/p>\n Suncoast Searchlight left a voicemail for Qualls on Tuesday afternoon, but Qualls did not immediately return the call.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Florida Policy Institute\/Suncoast Searchlight<\/p>\n Holly Bullard, of the Florida Policy Institute<\/p>\n Holly Bullard, a Sarasota parent who is also the chief strategy and development officer for Florida Policy Institute, celebrated Buchanan\u2019s proposed legislative fix.<\/p>\n \u201cThis clarifying language is a win for not only Sarasota County Schools, students and teachers, but every student and public school across Florida who were at risk of losing out on funding,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is a testament to leadership at the Sarasota school district, and honestly, our community coming together to ensure no tax collector does what ours attempted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Buchanan said in an interview with Suncoast Searchlight the tax package \u201cruns in tandem\u201d with the budget and that the school tax fix will be voted on then.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be something the membership will be able to opine on for 72 hours once it (the bill) is put out on notice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Buchanan, who is running for state Senate to succeed outgoing state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, said the tax package will be open to public discussion as soon as this week when legislators put the budget up for a vote.<\/p>\n He said several other legislators have also worked on gaining consensus with “conceptual agreement\u201d across chambers. Buchanan said if the bill doesn\u2019t fully address the confusion, he\u2019s open to pursuing additional legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the perfect fix,\u201d Buchanan said. \u201cBut it\u2019s addressing the issue the best we can in a tax package.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at <\/a>suncoastsearchlight.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ongoing fight between Sarasota County Schools and Tax Collector Mike Moran over millions in tax dollars is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-286702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"State](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779918134_609_.jpeg\"\/)
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