The county budgets $15,000 for a campaign to rally residents behind a half-cent increase.
By WILL VAN SANT
Published November 19, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - "Half Penny For Our Future."
Would that slogan make county residents want to vote for a half-cent sales tax increase on March 9?
County commissioners are betting it does.
It's the rallying cry they approved Tuesday for a soon-to-be-launched sales tax promotional campaign. The board views the sales tax, which could bring in $5.5-million a year, as the answer to some of the county's current funding problems and as a way to pay for planned building projects.
In addition to choosing the slogan, the board budgeted $15,000 for the campaign. That money is to pay for newspaper and radio advertisements, brochures and a mass mailing to residents.
Setting aside the money and selecting the slogan were easy; coming up with the actual referendum language proved more difficult for the board.
Initially, commissioners wanted the referendum to allude to promised millage rate reductions and the elimination of 2 cents from the gasoline tax if the sales tax is approved.
After deciding potential savings from the sales tax should exclusively go toward millage reduction rather than cuts to the gasoline tax, the commission was stymied by the law.
Assistant County Attorney Kurt Hitzemann informed the board that it is illegal to include discussion of millage rates on a referendum. Elected officials, not voters, are responsible for policy as it relates to millage rates, he said.
So, in the interest of stressing that the proposed sales tax hike is a boon to the public, the board decided the referendum should refer to parks, libraries and other facilities the half penny levy could finance while avoiding further debt.
Such public projects, commissioners pointed out, are often paid for with bonds, which the public must pay off over many years. If building projects are paid for by sales tax revenue, there will be less need to issue bonds, they argue.
"Somehow," said county Commissioner Nancy Robinson, "we need language that will convey we will save taxpayers millions of dollars in interest."
Hitzemann promised to develop such language and bring back some options to the board Tuesday.
Much of the discussion focused on what the public was capable of understanding and what people needed to hear in order to support the sales tax referendum.
But in their deliberations, commissioners shied away from characterizing the sales tax promotion as an advertising campaign.
"We're not out there trying to market," said county Commissioner Diane Rowden. "We are trying to inform."
- Will Van Sant can be reached at 352 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com
