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Collier County School Board members want to make sure voters know what they are agreeing to when they are asked to approve a referendum that could bring millions of dollars in operating funds to the School District.

But board members will have to make their proposal a little less long-winded if they want it to be put on the ballot.

Collier County commissioners, who must approve the referendum, voted unanimously Tuesday to continue the request to a June 10 meeting.

The School Board was asking the commissioners to put a referendum on the Aug. 26 primary ballot. The referendum would allow the district to lower its capital property tax by 0.25 mils, or 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, in order to raise the property tax in the general fund by the same amount.

The commissioners voted to continue the request because the School District provided ballot language that was 94 words, which is 19 words too long for a ballot.

Collier Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards said state law limits the number of words on the ballot to 75. Edwards asked commissioners to continue the issue until their June 10 meeting, saying she didn’t feel comfortable telling them to approve something that, at face value, could violate state statute.

“I am sure if we all work together, we can get this resolution on the ballot,” she said.

All ballot language must be submitted by the June 20 filing deadline.

Commission Chairman Tom Henning said he was disappointed no one from the School District came to the meeting to discuss the proposal.

“I was hoping for a better dialogue,” he said.

Henning suggested that the commissioners vote the request down, but was overruled by his fellow commissioners who said they could continue the request and notify the district about the error.

School Board Attorney Richard Withers said the district was working on the language and would resubmit the request. He said some of the confusion came over whether numbers, as in, 0.25 mils, would be considered words. The district didn’t believe that the numbers should be considered words, but they are, he said.

School Board members voted unanimously at their May 15 meeting to ask that the measure be put on the Aug. 26 primary ballot.

School leaders emphasized the referendum will be tax neutral, meaning taxpayers wouldn’t be asked to take on any additional burden.

But Henning questioned how the referendum would affect impact fees. He said by moving 0.25 mils from capital to operating, the district could substantially increase impact fees. He said it would be a question the district would have to answer in the coming weeks.

The issue of a referendum came up during the School Board’s February meeting. Board member Kathleen Curatolo told fellow board members she received an e-mail from a community member about an option Monroe County used to solve its operations budget shortfall.

Monroe County found the money by passing a voter referendum about four years ago, to reallocate part of its property taxes from capital funds to operating. The measure passed and Monroe County received $13 million.

The money collected from the referendum could help the School District offset budget constraints from a state revenue shortfall. The district already made more than $10 million in cuts this year and district officials expect that number to grow even higher next year.

Superintendent Dennis Thompson was wary of moving forward, though, saying publicly that he thought a rift between the teachers’ union and the district would result in a failed referendum. That opinion later changed after discussions with Cal Boggess, the president of the Collier County Education Association, which represents 80 percent of the district’s teachers.

If Collier voters approve the referendum, the district could collect millions for its operating fund by 2009-10.