Title
Voter Referendum on Extension of Wild Spaces-Public Places (B)
This is a request for the City Commission to authorize the Mayor to send a letter to the Chair of the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners endorsing the proposed distribution of funds generated if Wild Spaces-Public Places is approved by County voters in November 2016.
Explanation
The Voter Referendum on Extension of Wild Spaces Public Places has proceeded with the County and municipalities providing project lists. One key outstanding issue is the need for an agreement with the County for distribution of funds raised through the sales surtax. In the absence of an agreement, funds will be distributed according to the State Default Formula with the City receiving 35.78% of the revenue versus the 40.26% received by the City through the original Wild Spaces Public Places. Alachua County would receive 57.16% according the State Default Formula versus 52.21 % through the original Wild Spaces Public Places.
On May 12, 2016, the City Commission, sitting as the General Policy Committee, received a briefing on this issue, which included a Staff Analysis. Prior to this, City and County staff met on a number of occasions to discuss the distribution of funds. After discussion, the Committee focused on an approach that would use the State Default Formula while including a $6 million set-aside from the County’s share of revenue. The County would use $3 million of their set-aside to partner with the City of Gainesville on City projects that have a County-wide impact. The additional $3 million would be available to all municipalities (including the City of Gainesville) to submit funding requests to the County for partnership projects with a Countywide impact.
Fiscal Note
Projections indicate the City would receive a total of $46,551,152 over an 8-year levy, according to the State Default Formula. The proposal would result in an additional $3,000,000 of funding for City projects wi...
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