MILTON — Santa Rosa County commissioners on Monday held their first Local Option Sales Tax workshop to get public input on how to fund the new judicial center and other needs.
A number of residents who spoke expressed that a 1-cent sales tax should be tied to just one issue.
The LOST annually would generate $15,697,477 countywide, according to county information. The ballot language deadlines for 2016 are June 1 for the August ballot and Sept. 1 for the November ballot. For a sales tax to take effect Jan. 1, the state requires notice of a referendum before Oct. 1 of the preceding year.
The main issue splitting the public — and the commission — was whether to allow the penny sales tax to fund multiple projects.
Here are some of the comments:
●Commissioner Lane Lynchard said the courthouse is the primary need for the LOST but roads, drainage and other unmet capital needs should be considered, too.
●“My belief is if you make a single item on the sales tax, and downsize the courthouse to $20 million rather than $56 million, you might get that,” Jerry Couey said.
●Kenneth Witt asked the board not to have a LOST that lasts 10 years. “Sunset it in three years,” he said. “Get it done. Get your confidence back from the people then go again. Ask again.”
●Matthew Hargraves, on the city of Milton’s courthouse committee — which is tasked with keeping the courthouse in downtown Milton — said he was happy that county commissioners elected to put the new judicial center in downtown Milton. As for the tax, “I think there is a credibility gap, unfortunately,” he said. “… If you lump everything together, you’re doomed to fail. History has proven that.” Hargraves referred to previous years a LOST appeared on the ballot and failed, such as in 2014.
●Debbie Gunnoe questioned the recently implemented 6 cent sales tax for transportation projects.
●Commissioner Bob Cole said the road repair need is so great the gas tax alone was not sufficient.
●Rod Blascoe, referring to Santa Rosa’s need of a new jail 20 years ago, said the sales tax failed the first time, but succeeded as a 5 cent sales tax implemented until there was $25 million acquired for the jail. “In three years, you appropriated enough money to do that,” he said. “The county said that’s it and cut it out. That built trust … Build trust with the voters.”
●Yvonne Harper, a Holley by the Sea resident, criticized commissioners for starting a fund for the courthouse, but said she supports a LOST for beach re-nourishment, roads and bridges, and drainage.
Cole’s issue with the meeting was the lack of specific items to present to the people earmarked for a percentage of the collected LOST.
However, County Administrator Tony Gomillion said a list could have wrongly indicated to people that county commissioners already determined what a LOST will fund.
Commissioners Jayer Williamson and Rob Williamson said they put the issue of what to fund in the hands of the people.
Jayer said he agreed a LOST for a single item has the best chance of passing in Santa Rosa County. “Things certainly have funding needs … and a 1 cent LOST generates the revenue needed,” he said.
His solution to the problem of whether to fund multiple items was to have the public respond. “We have until June to get the wording for the referendum,” he said. “Email us. Call us. Let me know. I’m easy to get a hold of. Let’s show the people we can be good stewards of tax payers’ dollars.”
“You tell us what will pass,” Rob Williamson said to the public. “I know in District 4 what they want because I asked them. I put out a survey and got a thousand responses (addressing) beach re-nourishment, storm water (and) multi-use paths. It was pretty easy. People said work on this, so that's what I did.
“I think it’s the same for the LOST.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa Commission, residents split over sales tax use (VIDEO)