BAY MINETTE, Alabama — The Baldwin County Commission deadlocked on a 2-2 vote Tuesday in rejecting a Baldwin County School Board special election request for a permanent penny sales tax increase, prompting school officials to seek alternate funding or local legislation for referendum approval.

Dissenting Commissioners were Frank Burt and Commission Chairman Bob James. Commissioners Tucker Dorsey and Charles “Skip” Gruber supported the measure.

Burt cited continuing increases in sales tax funding and routine requests for addition funding from the BOE. He said the special election’s $150,000 price tag would be reduced by 50 percent in the November general elections by state-sharing of expenses.

James said school officials presented “funny numbers” during a detailed BOE presentation Friday, which indicated massive staff and service reductions without the tax measure.

“We must remember we need the best education for our children,” James said Tuesday. “These are funny numbers. I won’t support a system that doesn’t give good information.”

In an emailed response BOE spokesman Terry Wilhite stated, “The school system’s checkbook is online at bcbe.org and all of the district’s financials are reported there, including audit statements showing how every penny has been spent.”

James said advisors told him “the system is broken.”

School officials said the budget has been cut $80 million and 541 jobs were eliminated during the past three years. Additional cuts are expected next year.

The board is asking the Commission to authorize a permanent, penny sales tax referendum based on a Capital Survey Research Center study. A special referendum would eliminate a funding gap for the three-year penny tax, which expires next year.

The report stated 56 percent of Baldwin County voters support an increase in taxes to prevent further budget cuts.

The report also said 53 percent of voters prefer a sales tax, while 16 percent prefer property tax increases.

Commissioners were split Friday on options. Commissioner Frank Burt said both referendum proposals should be placed on the November general election ballot, along with ad valorem increases, for voter consideration.

Commission Chairman Bob James said he was not supportive of extending the sales tax.

“I support the ad valorem tax, but we have to sell it,” James said. “It is a steady funding source and timing is critical.”

“When I took office in January of 1989, the BOE was collecting a 0.53 percent sales tax in Baldwin County and their student enrollment was around 15,000,” Burt said. “Several months later, the sales tax was increased almost 100 percent to 1.03 percent.

“After about two more years, the sales tax was increased again by almost 50 percent to 1.53 percent. Both increases were without a vote of the people.”

Burt said the Commission used its delegated power to approve and implement the increases without a referendum.

“About three years ago the BOE made a request that the Baldwin County Commission impose another 1 percent sales and use tax on the people of Baldwin County for a period of three years.

“Since I took office in 1989 the BOE has benefited from a 500 percent increase in their sales tax rate, while the population in Baldwin County has more than doubled during that same time. To further benefit the BOE, there has been the unbelievable increase in Tourism.”

“Sales tax rates increased almost 500 percent and resident taxpayers more than doubled. In addition to that, tourist sales taxpayers have increased in untold numbers during these 23 years.”

Burt said school officials should review the sales tax receipts and student ration from 1989 to 2012.

Wilhite stated: “The request to grant a vote of the people on a penny tax wasn’t one just relayed by the board of education to the county commission but formulated by the Baldwin County Education Coalition, a very active citizens group that has spent all the months since the last penny tax referendum hearing the voice and will of the people, getting a handle on the school system's finances and formulating a plan what the future of our schools should look like.

“The Baldwin County Education Coalition formed a Funding Task Force, which scoured the school system’s finances, researched how schools are funded in Alabama and how other districts in Alabama and the nation are funded and to what level. After countless meetings, the funding task force came to the conclusion that while a property tax would be best for Baldwin schools, all indicators, including a recent survey, showed that people will only support a sales tax.

“The Funding Task Force saw that Baldwin County funds its school below the state and national averages. It understood the need to sustain the current level of funding and that’s all the Board of Education has asked the Commission to do — to allow the public to vote on a measure to sustain the level of funding currently in a special referendum. This citizens group made the request to the Baldwin County Board of Education at its last meeting, which then in turn took the  request to the county commission."

District 1 BOE member-elect David Cox sent a letter to Burt Friday that was read during the joint meeting. He said he opposed new taxes and continuation of the penny tax. He said he has seen no benefits from the penny tax, which generates about $30 million a year.

“Many parents, teachers and students campaigned for the penny tax in hopes of it saving jobs or providing much needed classroom supplies and repairs,” Cox stated. “However, those benefits have not been realized."

Cox stated through personal observation and communication with teachers, parents, administrators and students, he has discovered “countless areas of waste,” including duplication of work, unequal work loads, communication breakdowns and inefficiencies in various instructional and software programs.

“One of the examples is the Digital Renaissance program,” he said. “It is being piloted in my district and receiving national attention. But the results I hear from people involved at Baldwin County High School are not supportive.

“That program,” Cox said, “is a perfect example of the BOE not managing tax revenue wisely. Technology is an essential part of education today, but pioneering any form of program during a time of budget woes is irresponsible.”

Wilhite stated, “When the penny tax passed overwhelmingly by the voters in 2010 expires in June 2013, it will leave a $27 million canyon that has to be filled, unless citizens vote to replace the revenue. No amount of cost-cutting will make up this kind of deficit. It is a fact that hundreds of teachers would lose their job but as our superintendent, Dr. Lee, says, we also lose our vision for the world-class schools that our citizens have defined in their work with the education coalition.”

A legislative bill is being reviewed by lawmakers to levy an additional 1 percent sales and use tax on certain items and one-half of 1 percent on certain other items in Baldwin County to be distributed to the Baldwin County Board of Education for public school purposes, and provide an expiration date for the tax five years from June 1, 2013.

The bill designates the BOE to provide expenses for the election.

Wilhite stated: “By law, the Board of Education cannot pay for a special referendum but the board and superintendent have offered other ways - like paying some utility bills the commission pays for offices - to offset the cost. A special election is estimated to cost about $150,000.”