TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In 2018, voters in Hillsborough County approved a half-cent sales tax increase to help pay for needed repairs to schools.

The district says as a result, they’ve been able to replace more than 200 air conditioning units at area schools. Just this year, they’ve made major repairs or complete system replacements in 14 schools, spending $87 million for the equipment and work.

Despite this, the school system says it’s a challenge to keep up with the work that’s needed.

“We had $1 billion in deferred maintenance because the funding that came along with air conditioning and roofs, did not keep up with where we are, the millage rates,” said the district’s operations manager, Chris Farkas.

Farkas said they notice issues with AC systems at the start of every school year, even though they are fully tested before students return.

“Here’s the one thing you can’t replicate. When teachers come back, doors are open a bunch, about 60 percent of what air conditioning does in Florida is take humidity out of the air, when you open a door, that humidity is right back in there,” Farkas explained.

The school system says this year’s weather is also taxing systems more than ever and causing some AC units to fail.

“With this unprecedented heat we are dealing with a lot of smaller outages, a lot of major outages, my team is working daily to resolve them as quick as possible,” said Kenny Otero with Hillsborough County Schools.

Despite the problems, the school system says they are doing everything they can to repair the AC issues as quickly as they can.

“We try to do every means we can. Sometimes, it may seem like we aren’t getting their quick enough, but we are doing all our due diligence, we are doing everything we can,” said HVAC system specialist Bryan Chapman.