Title
Charter County and Regional Transportation System Surtax (B)
Section 212.055, Florida Statutes allows charter counties to impose a discretionary sales surtax of up to 1 percent. The Alachua County Board of County Commission are proposing two ballot initiatives for November 2012; one for a ¾ cent surtax for roads and a ¼ cent surtax for transit each for a 15 year period. An Interlocal Agreement between Alachua County Board of County Commission and the City of Gainesville are required to allow the County to transfer revenue from the surtax to the City.
Explanation
Subsection 212.055(1)(d)(4), Florida Statutes, provides that proceeds from the surtax levied may be distributed according to an Interlocal agreement between the County governing body and the governing bodies of the municipalities. The City of Gainesville is required to enter into Interlocal Agreements one for the ¾ surtax for roads and one for the ¼ cent surtax for transit.
Alachua County has requested that the specific projects that are intended to be funded by the surtax being identified on a list attached as an Exhibit to the Interlocal Agreement. Staff has developed project lists for both the roads and the transit surtax that identify projects that would be eligible for funding from the surtax.
Alachua County has requested that surtax proceeds being used only for the planning, development, construction, operation and maintenance of roads and bridges. They specifically stated that the proceeds shall not be used for the planning, development, construction, operation and maintenance of sidewalks.
As drafted both Interlocal Agreements contain language in Section 10 stating that the agreement may be amended by written agreement only upon a vote of a majority plus one of the membership of each party's governing body. Staff has provided two agreements for the City Commission's consideration, one as prepared by Alachua County and one that revised Section 10 to state the vote of a...
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