Voters in St. Johns County will decide in November if they want to pay a little more in sales tax to help fund the county’s explosive growth.
The county’s commissioners voted 4-to-1 to place a one-cent sales tax increase on the general election ballot.
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The county’s “to-do list” for road, bridge, and infrastructure repairs and upgrades is about $500-million behind, according to county leaders. That, coupled with the continued growth that’s projected over the next decade, commissioners say – it’s now or never on figuring out how to pay for transportation infrastructure, public safety, and parks.
Here’s where all that money would go:
- $243 million is needed for roads, bridges and transportation infrastructure projects,
- $120 million will go to public safety enhancements – like police, fire and rescue,
- $88 million would be used on five parks throughout the county, and
- $49 million will go to public libraries
On the Nov. 8th ballot, voters will say “yes” or “no” to raising the county’s sales tax from 6.5 cents to 7.5 cents for the next ten years.
Ballot language
- St. Johns County Ten Year Sales Surtax to Fund Countywide Public Infrastructure and Improvements To provide for safer neighborhoods, reduce traffic congestion, and improve roadways and public facilities, shall St. Johns County levy a one-cent sales surtax for a period of ten years to fund road improvements, alternative transportation facilities, and infrastructure for law enforcement, emergency services, public parks and recreation facilities, libraries, storm water management, and coastal erosion management projects, beginning on January 1, 2023?