Volusia County, FL - On Thursday, The Volusia County Council discussed the possibility of putting a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot for Volusia voters.
Nothing was voted on or decided on at the Thursday Council meeting, but all 16 municipalities in Volusia County will be able to give input on the referendum before it heads to the ballot box in November. All municipalities and the County must agree on the language of the referendum, and they will be using input from residents in order to write the referendum.
"This is coming from a result of several years' worth of work," said Council Chair Ed Kelley. "This is not a County-driven idea. This is an idea and concept that has been worked on for almost two years by the elected officials' roundtable, where you have representatives from all 16 cities and the County." He added that the goal is to have all cities adopt the resolution in support of the half-cent sales tax increase once the language is agreed upon. The County Attorney would be creating the language of the 75-word maximum ballot.
Kelley says this possible tax increase is a Countywide initiative, but it's not the County telling the individual cities how to spend the money. It's all of the municipalities coming together to decide what the funds should go toward.
Kelley and Council member Billie Wheeler wanted to clarify at the Council meeting that transportation money raised by the proposed increase would not go toward Votran or Sunrail.
"We are not adopting a resolution, putting this into place and into action. We are simply saying that we are in agreement to put it on the ballot so that the actual public can make the decisions on it," explained Council member Heather Post. "This will be up to the people of Volusia County."
There will also be educational programs put out by the individual cities and representatives so that the public can learn more about the initiative.
There will be an elected leaders' roundtable to discuss the issue of the half-cent sales tax. It is a free event at the Daytona Beach International Airport on February 12th. The Roundtable of Volusia County Elected Officials meets the second Monday of each month from 12 PM until 1:30 PM in the Dennis R. McGee Room on the second floor of the Airport located at 700 Catalina Dr. Council member Deborah Denys encourages the public to attend. "If want to have input into this issue, your real input is the cities that you live in," Denys said.
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