Property tax rate, oil spill settlement on Miami-Dade School Board agenda

The Miami-Dade County School Board on Wednesday will vote on its proposed tax rate and whether to accept a settlement agreement for damages stemming from the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The proposed tax rate is slightly lower than last year. If approved, property owners would pay $7.72 per $1,000 of taxable property value.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the typical homeowner should save $29, despite rising property values.

The rate is only a ceiling for the proposed tax rate. Once the school board votes, the rate may go down, but it is extremely difficult to raise.

Also Wednesday, the school district will vote whether to accept a $2.5 million settlement payment for damages from the 2010 oil spill off the Gulf Coast. The district made a claim in 2011 to recoup lost funds caused by the worst offshore spill ever.

Board member Raquel Regalado, who pushed for the district to go after BP, said Miami-Dade was the first school board to file a claim.

“There was a decline in the economy, and that decline in revenue that was available was a direct loss to the school system,” she said. “This was about our funding paradigm. It wasn’t about any environmental issue.”

The school board meets 11 a.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of the district’s administration building, 1450 NE Second Ave. in Miami.

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This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Property tax rate, oil spill settlement on Miami-Dade School Board agenda."