What are the Actual, Historic Amounts Collected by the BCC for our 1 Cent and 1/2 Cent Sales Taxes?

There were some inaccurate figures thrown out at last week's meeting whent the subject of sales tax swapped for MSBU was discussed.  Some lowball numbers were thrown out that didn's sound accurate.  I thought the half penny was generating and would generate a little over $30 Million annually.  Others thought the number was closer to $25 Million yearly.

So I turned to the school district's 1/2 penny sales tax chart and lo and behold it is clocking $32 Million.  

That's what it brought in last year, that's what the school board is budgeting it will bring in this year.

So I asked staff why their 1/2 penny was outperforming us by $7 Million yearly.  

Turns out, it isn't outperforming us--we just didn't have the right number.  So I requested historical actuals from staff and received the chart above.

Looks like the half penny is generating $32 million in the county as well as the school board--not $25 Million.  

In this economy right now--out 1 penny is collecting nearly $60 Million, and our half penny is north of $30 Million-------just as I originally thought and stated at the meeting.

Glad we got that one sorted out........

Monday Meeting on Big District 1 Infrastructure Projects

Big infrastructure meeting Monday afternoon--lots of big District 1 projects moving forward.

Late Monday afternoon I will be meeting with County Administrator Janice Gilley, County Engineer Joy Jones and a host of other staff members and the discussion will center around a number of big, beneficial District 1 Infrastructure projects that we will be moving forward.

As discussed in previous entries on this blog--each commissioner receives an allocation of $1 Million Annually in discretionary (Local Option Sales Tax) LOST funds for capital projects.  The unexpended amounts roll forward.  I  have identified $3 Million in desperately-needed D1 projects for which I will be expending my discretionary LOST funds over the next several years.

On Thursday of last week, The BCC unanimously approved one of these very important projects.  This  Bellview-area drainage project is one part of the list of projects I am bringing forward for discussion Monday.  This project has huge implications for storm water issues in this portion of District 1--where in one subdivision houses' backyards are literally being washed away.  What was approved on Thursday is part one of getting that situation solved as well as establishing a regional storm pond in the Godwin Lane area of Bellview.  As we all saw with last Wednesday's deluge in Beulah-- storm water issues are a tremendous problem--one we must continue to work to address.

For the 2020-2021 budget cycle I am allocating $500,000.00 for-- and will be pressing staff to-- develop a regional project to address flooding concerns in the following areas of Beulah that are suffering negative stormwater consequences as a result of massive unfettered growth and development:  Beulah Road, Frank Reeder Road, Rebel Road, and Tower Ridge Road.

In addition to this regional pond and Sarasota ditch rehabilitation project, here are the other projects that will be discussed with planning and engineering staff on Monday.

1.  Beulah Fire Station Modernization         $1,000,000.00
2.  Bellview Public Library                          $250,000.00
3.  Regional Drainage Improvements,
     Godwin, Blue Angel, Sarasota Street      $400,000.00
4.  Drainage Design, Dunaway Lane, 

 Fridinger Road, Pursell Ln.                         $200,000.00

                                                                   
5.  Cerny Road/Muldoon sidewalks,
street lights, and drainage improvements     $700,000.00
6.  Splash Pad at Beulah Park                       $200,000.00
7.  Misc. street lights, sidewalks
     and roadway improvement at various
     other locations  throughout District 1      $225,000.00

I'll be discussing these projects in depth in the weeks and months to come as I bring them forward for affirmative votes of the full board.

About Commissioners' Discretionary Funds: Part II--Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Discretionary Funds

The utilization of district discretionary LOST funds allows individual commissioners in their respective districts to identify, fund,  and implement good and necessary projects--like the ones I am intending to bring forward for funding from this source, listed below. 

Some folks have recently asked me about Commissioners' discretionary funds.  People want to know where these funds come from, what they can be used for, and if the use of such funds is actually legitimate and legal?

So here goes....

Before I was elected to the board in 2016, the board had a pot of discretionary funds from the Tourist Development Tax  (TDT) that was split out among the commissioners yearly in increments of $50,000.00 per commissioner, with unutilized amounts rolling forward if not expended.  These funds, at that time,  had the caveat that they could only be used for event sponsorships or activities that would bring in tourist dollars from out of the area and generate hotel room nights in the county.

By the time I took my seat in November of 2016, this practice of TDT discretionary allocations had been ended by the commissioners and replaced with a yearly allocation of $50,000.00 in general fund monies that could be utilized by commissioners to fund local non-profit entities that support the community and serve a public purpose.  The uses for these new allocations were much more broad than were the previous monies that were mandated to be "tourism-centric."

From the time I have been on the board, the process of vetting organizations and funding them from discretionary allocations has run very smoothly--until recently when there was a bit of ill-placed consternation displayed about the practice.... But that incident was simply and succinctly squelched via a 4-1 affirmational vote....

The larger and much more profound pot of discretionary funds yearly for commissioners is our Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) discretionary pot of money.  Each year each commissioner gets an allocation of $1 Million Dollars in LOST funds for use as each commissioner sees fit within his district--subject to the statutory provisions guiding the use of these funds and subject to an affirmative vote of the full board of county commissioners (which is the check and balance of this process).  The unexpended balances of these funds carry over yearly.

The Local Option Sales Tax is a one penny tax on most consumer purchases made in Escambia County.  It's implementation was graciously allowed for by our county's voters who have been generous in permitting us to levy this tax since the early 1990s.  (Other local counties have struggled to implement their LOST tax--with voters rejecting this concept in other nearby communities over and over....)

Locally, our LOST produces about $42 Million yearly--a portion of which is shared with the county's two municipalities,  Pensacola and Century.  The balance of the funding yearly is used locally to purchase property, renovations, maintenance services,  buildings, ambulances, fire trucks, sheriff's equipment and vehicles, computer hardware, and a host of other things--but primarily capital expenditures or durable equipment that lasts 5-years or longer.  A portion of the LOST funds assists

Escambia County's Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Has Been Invaluable for Citizens Over the Years

Nobody Likes Taxes---But with a Local Option Sales Tax in place---EVERYONE pays some--including tourists and folks that don't work.  Without LOST--a county's burden for facilities and infrastructure falls nearly exclusively on the collective backs of property tax payers.....

Lots of folks have been asking my opinion about the upcoming referendum in Santa Rosa County to go to a penny Local Option Sales Tax as Escambia County has done for the last 27 years.

I was asked to give my opinion, which I did when I spoke in a commercial for the folks that are backing the penny.  In the commercial I discussed some of the ways this tax has been beneficial to Escambia County over the years.

Obviously, though, this is a vote and a decision that belongs exclusively to the citizens of Santa Rosa County.  And they will decide this question next Tuesday in a special election.

But as it relates to my experience--I can tell you unequivocally--Escambia County's Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) has been invaluable for Citizens here over the years.

Escambia County's LOST has been maintained by the electorate since 1992 as follows:

LOST I                    June 1, 1992 (for 7 years per ordinance)

LOST II                  May 13, 1997 - May 31, 2007 (per ordinance)

LOST III                 June 1, 2007 - December 31, 2017 (per ordinance)

LOST IV                January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2028

According to staff with whom I have spoken--the total revenue generated over these years amounts to a massive figure:  $1,057,564,174.00 total including LOST IV's revenue in 2019 YTD.  So this equates to an average of $39 Million Dollars yearly over this period that Escambia County has utilized to modernize our facilities, parks, and infrastructure.  We have also utilized this revenue to purchase facilities and equipment, vehicles, and other items for the Sheriff's Department.  Escambia County Fire Rescue has also had fire facilities and equipment purchased with this revenue.  Because we had this revenue, we have also had the financial resources to lure huge companies to our County with economic development incentives--notably Navy Federal Credit Union and ST Engineering Aerospace.

The School Board in Escambia County (of which I was a member for 10 years) also had their own 1/2 penny LOST--which was used to build entire schools and finance the purchases of modern School Bus Fleets and tremendous numbers of renovations and upgrades at 57 school campuses county-wide.  When I was a school board member--I often wondered where our schools would have been, from a facilities perspective, without this revenue source.....Answer:  We would have been in DIRE STRAITS.

So no one knows for certain how Santa Rosa County will vote on this--again it is up to the voters and we will all see on Tuesday which way it goes over there.  For my part, I ALWAYS loved the fact that the sales tax method reduced the burden on property tax payers, it put everyone into the mix by taxing purchases by everyone (including tourists and folks that do not own property or work but who are nevertheless hyper-consumers of alcohol, tobacco, bling, iPhones, and other products upon which this tax is levied.)  In short, it forces everyone to put "skin in the game".

It has been excellent for Escambia.

We shall see if Santa Rosa property owners see this and vote appropriately on Tuesday--it will be in their interest to do so, in my opinion

Where Have the LOST Monies Been Spent? A 10 Year Look

I requested the information on behalf of a constituent and received the following chart back from staff.  It is interesting to look at the breakdown;  District 1 trails only District 4 as the district that has received the least amount of LOST funding over the last 10 years so far as I can tell.....