Florida voters renew surtax for community infrastructure needs

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Most people are not eager to hand over their money to governments for taxes. But Bay County voters are apparently happy with the results of the half-cent sales tax for infrastructure.

The vote means it will continue to be collected until 2036.

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"We want to thank the voters of Bay County for renewing the surtax for an additional ten years and continuing to put their trust in us as local officials to really, you know, use those funds to address the community's infrastructure needs. But you can look all over Bay County and see improvements that have been made over the last eight years with those funds," Bay County manager Robert Majka said.

The county has already used the tax revenue to widen part of Jenks Avenue, resurface 3 miles of Thomas Drive, and repair the East Avenue bridge.

Some of the future projects include drainage improvements at East 11th Street and Sherman project, outfall improvements at Industrial Drive and Redwood Avenue, and replacing the East 13th Street bridge in Cedar Grove.

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"One, the really important part is that it's a, it's a consumption tax. So is shared by our visitors. You come to Bay County so about 45% of the revenue generated is by visitors. So the residents aren't shouldering all of that. It has in the past shown that it's kept our property taxes lower. So that's a big plus. But the money generated has gone to you know, you've seen them all over town road projects, stormwater improvements, sidewalks around schools. And we expect about three to $400 million worth of additional projects to be done in the next ten years," Chamber of Commerce President Patrick Chapin said.

For a list of all of the county's projects, funded by the half-cent surtax, click here .