This, after $2 million in withheld fees prompted Sarasota Schools to sue Mike Moran’s office.
By Nic Steinig
Original Air Date: May 6, 2026
Host: Yesterday, led by Tom Knight, the Sarasota County Commission surprised everyone by taking back a vote it made last year, charging the school district for tax collections. The $2 million in fees withheld by the Sarasota Tax Collector had prompted the school district to sue Mike Moran and his office. Nic Steinig reports.
Nic Steinig: Last August, Sarasota County Commissioners voted to allow Tax Collector Mike Moran to shift the payment of a commission on voter-approved school funds from the county to the Sarasota School Board.
After the Tax Collector withheld $2 million in funding with the intent of refunding the remaining balance once expenses were deducted, the School Board sued the Tax Collector, alleging that the funds raised through voluntary ad valorem taxes were levied from citizens on the promise that it was for the school system alone, and not to “inflate [the Tax Collector’s] own budget.” The diversion of those anticipated funds, the School District alleges, resulted in damages to the school system in the form of program rollbacks and teacher layoffs.
Yesterday, County Commissioners voted 3-2 to rescind their previous vote. It happened after a surprise motion introduced between agenda items by Commissioner Tom Knight.
During the motion, Commissioner Knight expressed regret for making a hasty decision last August and indicated that he and his fellow commissioners were presented with an inaccurate picture of whether this change was legally mandated.
Tom Knight
Tom Knight: In my background at times, I’ve made decisions I regret. Doing some more research, talking to people in community, this appears to me to be a discretionary action that is not required by law. It is not illegal not to charge the commission.
NS: For the last year, Moran has communicated to school officials and county board members that Florida Statute Section 192.191 makes the School Board, by law, responsible for paying the commission and that the county’s payment for the commission deviates from that law. However, the statute only clarifies state procedures for taxing districts, special assessment districts and non-voted school millage, none of which address the School Board’s voted school millage.
The entity responsible for paying the commission is now in dispute; while school board lawyers, officials, and lawmakers offer their own interpretations, the commissioners had previously voted on the premise that the law governing the decision was clear.
The Sarasota County Tax Collector’s office is standing by its original claim. The office recently released an educational video to dispel “disinformation.” Take a listen:
Sarasota County Tax Collector Mike Moran. | Photo courtesy of the Office of the Sarasota County Tax Collector
Tax Collector Video: There has been much misinformation in the press related to the school board. A majority of the school board’s commissions are mandated by Florida law to be paid by the Sarasota County Commission. But a portion of the school board commissions are mandated to be paid by the school board. It appears that the Sarasota County government was paying this commission for almost 24 years. The tax collector’s office has simply ensured that the existing commission is applied to the correct entity as required by Florida law.
NS: At the Tuesday meeting, Commissioner Knight also raised concerns over the lack of transparency on how the Tax Collector’s commission fee is calculated.
TK: I realize I took everything at face value. I thought that the $589,556 that we were told were for actual costs that we were paying, and it would be fair for the schools to pay for that. It was simple cost shifting. Looking back at it now, we don’t know where the $589,556 came from. We just believe these are real costs. We never saw an accounting of the actual costs or the collection of the money. The tax collector didn’t offer the information, and neither did our staff, bBut none of us here asked for that, and neither did I. I believe that was a mistake.
NS: Commissioner Knight took it further on his official Facebook page: “The tax collector decided to take far more than the $589,000 dollars we were told this service ’costs’ and keeping an extra $1.4 million-plus of your money in a slush fund until and unless he decided to refund it back to the school board. The lack of transparency and accountability here were deeply troubling to me.”
While the Tax Collector’s fee would have been paid by Sarasota County regardless of whether the shift to the School Board was made, the lawsuit filed against Moran draws attention to the 34% budget increase for his office and the lack of independent auditing of those rising expenses.
Much of the outcry against the change stemmed from its sudden imposition. The Sarasota County School Board already ratified its annual budget with funds from the voter-approved school tax referendum in mind. Without any time to prepare for the cuts, the School Board claims the school system faced major disruption.
Now, with those same changes suddenly undone, WSLR spoke with Sarasota County School Board member Liz Barker on what this change means for them:
Liz Barker
Liz Barker: I’m really grateful to our county commissioners that perhaps they didn’t have all the relevant information at the time, and they really showed a lot of integrity. As of right now, we are still short $2 million. The money that is not in the budget cannot be used to pay people because it’s not there. It’s the equivalent of approximately 20 teachers, so it’s not a small amount to us. It’s really important to us that we get a resolution to this, but to date, the tax collector has not been amenable to that.
NS: Barker said that several settlement offers had been made to Moran. The latest offer would have suspended the lawsuit on the condition that Moran return the $2 million until the Attorney General issued an opinion, which he declined. Barker indicated that the school board would continue to pursue “legal clarity” with its attorneys and that the entire school board is united on this issue.
Even if the entire amount is returned, which remains up in the air, several impacts have already unfolded, raising questions of ongoing legal culpability.
Ron Cutsinger and Teresa Mast dissented from the vote, with Cutsinger favoring a wait-and-see approach to avoid disruptive changes and Mast expressing interest in lowering the county’s costs.
WSLR reached out to Tax Collector Mike Moran several times by email and by phone, but did not receive a response.
Reporting for WSLR, Nic Steinig.
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