Property taxes from Sweetbay homes may help pay for road repairs

BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Property taxes from Sweetbay houses may help pay for road repairs in neighboring communities.

In July, Panama City Commissioner Brian Grainger proposed accelerating the construction and sale of Sweetbay houses. He also suggested using property taxes from those homes to pay for road repairs outside of Sweetbay.

"The ultimate goal for the city here is to have more houses built and then have more ad valorem taxes off of those houses built, but then also siphon some of that money off of those houses, because those houses are quite expensive, into the surrounding areas like Forest Park, Candlewick, Venetian Villa," Grainger said.

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Grainger said those communities are in disrepair and need immediate attention.

"They are quite old. They are failing. The infrastructure underneath them is failing. This provides us with money to go in and replace the water, the sewer, put in sidewalks, and replace the asphalt," Grainger said.

Tuesday, commissioners decided to move forward with the plan, approving the first reading of the tax increment finance ordinance. It's essentially an interlocal agreement between the city and Sweetbay's community development districts.

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"The benefit of the city is twofold. One is that more houses will be built and without this deal, they won't be built. More houses will be built, which means we can spread the ad valorem tax revenue out further. But as part of this deal, a portion of that money will go to the surrounding neighborhoods for infrastructure improvements," Grainger added.

Grainger said Sweetbay development should pick up again once this agreement passes.

"We have seen them halt on any further development. We're seeing kind of the dropdown, if that makes sense. With the approval of this agreement moving forward, I think we're going to see a lot more happen very quickly over that area, which benefits all citizens," Grainger said.

The city will hold a public hearing on the tax increment finance ordinance on December 10th.