A resurfaced photograph is drawing attention to an apparent shift in Baldwin County Commissioner Frank Burt’s position on a school property tax referendum, just weeks before voters decide the measure on March 31.
Burt was the only member of the Baldwin County Commission to receive applause from a crowd of mostly tax opponents during a commission meeting on Tuesday, March 17, after he raised concerns about the proposed 8-mill increase tied to the “Build Baldwin Now” school construction campaign. But a photo from December 2014, taken by Denise D’Oliveira, past president of the Daphne Education Foundation, shows Burt standing with the county’s other three commissioners while holding a sign supporting the same campaign, well before organized opposition to the tax had emerged.
When shown the photo after Tuesday’s meeting, Burt pushed back on the idea that it represented an endorsement. “It wasn’t an endorsement and I’ve made it clear that I wasn’t going to tell folks to vote for it or against it,” Burt said, adding that he had said the same at civic meetings.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Burt argued that many Baldwin County residents are struggling financially, citing job losses and pay cuts. “People are really, really hurting,” Burt said. “People move to Baldwin County not just for the schools, but they also move down here because we have low taxes. When taxes go up, it hurts people.” He also criticized the length of the proposed tax, invoking his own childhood during the Great Depression, and said he was troubled that students had been involved in campaigning for the tax increase, calling the effort “absolutely for the employees.”
Fellow commissioners struck a different tone. Commissioner Chris Elliott, who along with Commissioner Tucker Dorsey voiced support for the referendum, said afterward that his comments weren’t aimed at winning applause. “Leadership is to do what you know is be right regardless of who is in the room looking at you,” Elliott said, defending the school board’s efforts to inform the public and pointing to Baldwin County’s rapid growth as a driving factor behind the district’s facility needs. Dorsey called the school system’s plan “logical, reasonable.” Commission President Charles “Skip” Gruber was recovering from back surgery and did not attend the meeting.
The March 31 referendum asks voters to raise the county’s property tax rate from 12 mills to 20 mills, while also renewing an existing 7-mill levy. Each mill generates roughly $3.6 million for the school system. County Attorney David Conner noted that if voters reject the renewal, state equity funding rules could require the commission to ensure at least a 10-mill minimum levy stays in place, a scenario that could still cost the district roughly $7 million if rates fall from the current 12 mills.
School officials have pointed to their own data in defending the request, noting the district ranks 110th out of 134 Alabama systems in per-pupil spending and has cut 561 positions since 2007 even as enrollment grew by 6,158 students, a 25 percent increase, over the past decade.