What does an extra half-cent in sales tax look like when you go to the store? For the average family, it could amount to about $50 over the course of the year – less than a dollar a week, less than 13 cents a day. It might be a small amount but, collected throughout the county on the purchases by residents and visitors alike, it adds up.
St. Lucie County and its municipalities are going again to voters, asking them to approve a half-cent increase to the sales tax for 10 years. If approved, the revenues generated are expected to amount to about $217 million countywide.
Port St. Lucie would receive $88 million while the county would collect $108 million. Fort Pierce would receive $21 million and St. Lucie Village would get $300,000.
The current sales tax rate in St. Lucie County is 6.5 percent. Neighboring and nearby counties, including Indian River, Palm Beach, Brevard and Okeechobee, have a sales tax rate of 7 percent.
“We don’t take taxation lightly in PSL,” Mayor Gregory Oravec said shortly before the City Council’s unanimous vote on the citizens’ priority list. “We’re working on decreasing our millage rate – we’ve decreased it two years in a row. We’ve cut 25 percent of our debt. But we are a growing, thriving city.”
He said that if the city and its residents want Port St. Lucie to remain the safest large city in Florida with moving traffic and the ability to get around town safely, the city must work on the various infrastructure projects, such as sidewalks and road improvements.
“We don’t have many funding sources,” he said, noting that there are property taxes, sales tax and a couple others they can tap to get the work done.
Port St. Lucie hired a firm to conduct a scientific study to determine what sales tax-funded projects the citizens would support.
The priorities list includes completing the sidewalks master plan, improving traffic flow along St. Lucie West Boulevard, funding the city’s road repaving master plan, and making major improvements to both Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Floresta Drive.
Shifting some of the funds around, the City Council also agreed to add improvements to U.S. 1.
Several projects are associated with the St. Lucie West Boulevard allocation of sales tax revenue.
The city hopes to address chronic congestion by widening California Boulevard between St. Lucie West Boulevard and Del Rio Boulevard. Southbound right-turn and thru lanes could be added to the intersection at Bayshore Boulevard. And other improvements could be made to the intersections at Peacock Boulevard, at California, and at Cashmere.
He said that not all neighborhoods would see a direct benefit from the sales tax increase – if approved – but residents driving around town could surely see that work needs to be done.
“This will make a difference in people’s lives,” Oravec said. “This will improve lives in Port St. Lucie.”
The question is: How does it get paid for? He asked if only property owners should have to pay, or if the burden should be shared by all who come to Port St. Lucie.
Councilman John Carvelli floated a suggestion that the city put some money into the Tradition area, specifically the city’s recently acquired Southern Grove. He said the city could put in $1 million worth of infrastructure for a 25-acre parcel and market it for a vocational/tech center.
“This could be very juicy,” Carvelli said, adding that the School District might be interested in the property. “They might want to jump on that.”
His fellow council members expressed support for the idea, but not the funding source, noting that it wasn’t something included in the scientific study.
Instead, the council decided to stick to the priority list as defined in the study and discuss a potential vocation/tech center in the future with other funding.
Oravec, having heard the discussion regarding Carvelli’s suggestion, said he knew his idea wouldn’t fly but brought it up anyway. He said it would be nice to set aside some funds as a “challenge grant” to help with making physical security improvements on school campuses.
Carvelli, a former School Board member, said that it would be a nice offer, but hardening campuses should be on the School District and funded through their own capital improvements plans.
“I think that’s their responsibility,” he said.
Ultimately, the council approved the recommended priority list as cultivated from the citizens’ survey.
“This will get done,” said Oravec. “And it will get done in 10 years or less.”
So long as voters approve the ballot measure in November.
