Next week, citizens around Hernando County and across the country will finish casting their votes on several high-profile political races. Voters will also be making decisions on various important issues. One of these is regarding the local whole-cent sales tax referendum.
As the name suggests, one cent would be paid per dollar on any purchase (not exceeding $5000) in the county except medication, fuel and some groceries. Approximately $38 million will be received from the tax annually, and the funds will go towards law enforcement, public safety, transportation, and economic development.
County Administrator Jeff Rogers discussed the referendum in greater detail with the Sun on Monday:
AS: Would you be able to explain the whole-cent sales tax and its purpose in your own words?
JR: “The referendum really is a question for voters on how they want to fund future necessary capital projects in the county. The one percent would fund projects for transportation, alleviate some congestion in the county by widening some roadways and adding turn lanes in front of schools and at intersections. It would also fund necessary capital improvement for economic development to increase the ability to create local high-paying jobs here by providing infrastructure, roads, water, and sewer for properties to make a site ready for companies to expand and grow businesses here. Lastly, it funds public safety necessary requirements as we grow in the community for increased fire and EMS stations so we can maintain ambulance and fire response times as we continue to grow, so we can continue to get first responders there quickly. Lastly, a training center so we can have highly trained police officers and fire rescue personnel so that when they do arrive on the scene, they are highly trained. There is also some necessary expansion for our jail and improvements in mental health capacities in our jail. So, those are all things we’re going to fund in the future.”
AS: I noticed that it says for 30 years, what was the decision on it being for 30 years. Is it that it is going to be bonded. Is that why? What was the reasoning behind that?
JR: “Yes, I think you’re understanding correctly. Like any big improvements you make, you borrow the money so you don’t wait for 20 years to make improvements. All these improvements are needed to happen sooner. Roads, economic development, and fire station. So, we borrow the money, then pay it back in 30 years. The goal is, we did not want to go 10 years and then have to ask for a renewal and have a chance that it does not renew in the future. Then, the cost would then go on the property tax instead of the sales tax as the voters would elect now. So, the goal was to make that all these projects never go on your property taxes. They only go on sales tax, which is paid by 30 percent visitors, too.”
AS: You had mentioned the training center for first responders. With the various projects that it is going to be funding, are there certain projects that are going to be taking up larger amounts of the funds, that are going to be higher priority, or anything like that? Do you have the information on that sort of thing?
JR: “Certainly. Yeah, I think a significant amount of the funding goes towards transportation. Roadway projects are probably the most expensive projects in there. So, just County Line itself is way over $100 million. Barclay widening, Anderson Snow widening were $50 million each at least. A significant amount of the funding will go towards transportation projects in the future to make sure we can minimize congestion in the county and maintain a good transportation network. After that, the jail is probably the next costliest thing on there that needed to expand for some mental health capacities in there […] Then, just replace some significantly old jail cells. They add some new jail cells on there. So, that project is almost $200 million, right there. The training center is probably going to be about $100 million for the police and fire training center long-term with everything that goes out there. That’s the new emergency operations center also and everything.”
AS: How did the idea for the whole-cent come about in the first place? How did the plans get started in the first place from the ideation of it all the way to the ballot? How did that come about?
JR: “Two years ago, the county did have a half-cent on the ballot for roadways again and some recreational needs at that time, also. So, over two years ago, we knew transportation was an issue. It didn’t pass two years ago, so we were still continuing to think about how we deal with transportation going forward. Then, the county completed some master plans in those two years. Those master plans were for the growth of the county. They showed out the need for more fire stations. Then, the training center to keep police officers and make them highly trained, and the training center for the sheriff’s office came about. Then, we also saw the jail needs all came about in the last two years. So, the county did a lot of planning for the future in the last two years, and all these plans came up and said all these core government services are going to need to be improved as we continue to grow. Then, myself put forward an issue to go borrow the money to start building these things over time, and the board of county commissioners said, ‘Instead of just borrowing the money and putting it on taxes, let’s have the citizens vote to see if they prefer to put it on a sales tax versus borrowing the money.” We did have some bond referendums come up to fund these projects, and the board wanted to have the citizens’ option to vote instead.”
AS: Wrapping up, are there any other details we didn’t touch on or maybe misconceptions surrounding the whole cent that you have noticed?
JR: “I think the bigger thing, we believe that these are core government things that any community needs: roadways, economic development, law and order, and first responders. So, these are just core government services that we have to provide and we’re going to provide. The sales tax, the only difference in that and your property taxes is that 30 percent of that money will come from individuals that aren’t paying property taxes. That is everybody visiting the community. All the tourists that are here with the mermaids, the springs, and the water. Anybody that has done business in our community eating dinner here one night helps pay for the infrastructure. So, the option for the citizens is it brings in about $38 million a year, so what about $10 million of it would come from people that aren’t living here or are just visiting our community. So, the question is, do you want to have $10 million funded by people that aren’t from our community but help fund our community needs. So, that was the question why the board wanted to ask the citizens if they would like to do that.”
If the sales tax passes, a Citizens Oversight Committee will be formed to ensure the proper use of the funds that are collected. More information regarding the referendum, which will be included on the Official Ballot for the 2024 General Election.
