DeLand, FL – If Volusia County’s roads are to be funded past 2017, Volusia’s cities may have to lead the way.
That’s the word from several Volusia County Council members pushing to have voters approve a special sales tax to pay for road fixes and improvements during the November 2016 election.
A debate during Thursday’s VCC meeting about the half-penny sales tax initiative saw District 2 Representative Josh Wagner – a big supporter – counsel against pushing the idea of a special survey any further to the cities.
“It’s going to continue to look like we’re just trying to get more money when that is not the true meaning of what we’re trying to do,” Wagner added. “This is something for the betterment of our entire community.”
The county had formally asked some of its cities recently to pay part of the costs of a survey whose goal would be to figure out how much public support there would be for the sales tax, especially if the money goes towards fixing what county officials have called a crumbling road infrastructure.
But several municipal governments – including Port Orange and Ormond Beach – shot that idea down when it came in front of their respective elected leaders, with some objecting in particular to the overall cost, expected to be in the 6 figures.
Wagner effectively declared the issue dead barring a huge surge of support from the business community and the city’s mayors, but District 4 Representative Doug Daniels was more optimistic that the cities will support the idea itself instead of the survey.
“There is not a mayor and, quite possibly, not a city that does not support the local option sales tax,” Daniels noted. “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
That proposed sales tax – yet to be placed on the ballot – could see over $34 million generated for roads in its first year, money that could come in handy if the current funding for roads and other transportation project runs dry in 2017 as expected.
Revenue to pay for roads has decreased in part because of lower gas prices. Volusia’s gas tax dollars have decreased as gas itself has gotten cheaper.
Several county leaders – especially Wagner and Daniels – have argued in the past that Volusia is losing big money now and will continue to lose big money going forward if the road infrastructure isn’t upgraded enough to lure and keep more businesses.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.