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Tanking property values might halt new Broward schools construction, technology

Throw the Broward County, Fla., school district’s five-year construction and technology plan out the window, district financial staff told school board members at a March 24 workshop, reports the Miami Herald. The reason: the state’s latest revenue predictions, which project that plummeting property values will cause a 14.9 percent dive in school property tax collections for the next fiscal year–and an 8.7 percent drop the following year. The shortfalls will translate into a loss of millions of dollars for capital projects, which means most plans will have to be pushed back or scrapped, district financial chief Ben Leong said. Board members already have eliminated or delayed some projects from the $3 billion construction plan owing to budget cuts. The additional reductions to the five-year plan would mean losing $1.39 billion in projects. The district also would not be able to afford existing, fixed capital costs–such as paying back debt and keeping technology leases–for two years, which means it would have to back out of some of those commitments or dip into money from its day-to-day operations to pay for them…

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