Residents will have another chance to weigh in on a possible sales tax increase to fund a second two-lane bridge over Choctawhatchee Bay.
Walton County commissioners agreed Tuesday to host a public hearing Feb. 14 on whether or not to hold a sales tax referendum to pay for the U.S. 331 bridge.
If approved, voters would be asked in May whether they want an increase in the local sales tax to help fund the span.
In December, state Department of Transportation officials told commissioners they have $102 million set aside for the bridge if the county would agree to contribute $75 million, either through a toll or another mechanism.
Without a commitment for the local contribution, the DOT said it would redirect the funds to another part of the state.
State officials said they needed an answer by the end of May in order to keep the project in their five-year work plan.
After two heated public hearings, a task force recommended Tuesday that commissioners ask voters to approve a sales tax increase, which it determined would be less burdensome to Walton County residents.
The task force recommended that the board consider sales tax increase of up to 1 cent.
“We hope the BCC will give serious weight and consideration to values below the 1 cent,” their recommendation read.
The panel also asked that commissioners include language in the referendum stating that the tax increase be eliminated as soon as the debt on the bridge is paid.
Bill Imfeld, the county‘s finance director, estimated that at current bond and tax collection rates, the county could pay off the bridge in nine years with a 1 cent sales tax increase.
In 2010, residents paid about 43 percent of Walton County’s sales tax revenue, with tourists responsible for the rest, according to a study by the HAAS Center at the University of West Florida.
If the sales tax was increased by 1 cent, the average Walton County household would pay an additional $217 annually, the study found.
In contrast, a toll on the bridge, estimated at $3 per southbound car, would cost the daily commuter $750 a year.
The county’s sales tax rate is 7 cents on the dollar now. Bay and Okaloosa counties collect 6.5 cents and 6 cents, respectively.
Six cents is the state sales tax. In Walton County, additional sales tax collections are used for garbage fees.
Seven counties in Florida have sales tax rates higher than Walton. But if the local sales tax rate was raised to 8 cents on the dollar, it would have the highest in the state.
Dawn Moliterno, executive director of the Walton County Tourist Development Council, has been tapped to oversee the U.S. 331 issue.
She noted at the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday that widening the highway has been an issue for four decades.
“Although this came fast as far as this opportunity, we have been diligently working on this for decades,” she said.
Moliterno said the bridge is needed to help with evacuation rates in the county, which are the second slowest in the state. The bridge would also boost economic development, ease traffic congestion and improve safety.
Moliterno said state officials have said that funding for widening the rest of U.S. 331 hinges on building the second bridge.
She told commissioners the task force that held two public hearings on the bridge funding did not come up with any other alternatives.
BP grant funds and bed tax dollars cannot be used, she said.
A state law passed in 2010 allows counties to levy a sales tax increase of up to 1 cent to fund transportation projects. It must be approved by voters.
If voters do not approve the tax increase, county commissioners will have to vote whether to place a toll on the bridge or have the state redirect its money.
“They (the DOT) will not put a toll facility in a community that doesn’t want it,” Moliterno said.
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