The Half Cent Surtax Supports:
- Increased neighborhood safety and pedestrian paths
- Construction of sidewalks near schools
- Reduction of flooding
- Reduction of traffic congestion
- Improvement of local roads and bridges
Bridge Repair
Many of the bridges across our county are structurally deficient, too narrow or weak to support heavy traffic, or prone to flooding during heavy rainfall. These projects allow for needed repairs to narrow or weak bridges to make them safer and more useful.
Capacity Improvement
In order to reduce traffic congestion and increase traffic flow through the county, many roadways need to be widened or expanded to include connection roads. Additionally, certain areas of the community are subject to water outages and pressure loss due to outdated cast-iron pipes, hindering fire protection and economic development.
Intersection Improvement
Many intersections throughout Bay County are not sufficiently equipped to handle the heavy traffic flow they endure. These projects add additional turning lanes for some of the most trafficked intersections in the county to help traffic flow.
Resurfacing
More than 43 miles of road in Bay County are considered to be in ”poor“ or ”very poor“ condition. Projects will include repaving stretches of road that are cracked, have potholes, or are severely rutted. Repairs will also include adding or fixing paved shoulders along heavily trafficked county roads to increase vehicular and bicycle safety.
Roadway Safety
Improvements will include adding sidewalks to increase pedestrian safety and encourage non-motorized transportation in heavy pedestrian areas, especially near schools. These additions will also increase pedestrian access to many community amenities.
Stormwater Improvement
Due to Bay County’s proximity to sea level, much of our county is prone to flooding. To help prevent and reduce some of this flooding, the county has identified portions of existing drainage systems that need to be updated to better alleviate flooding—including expanding culverts and replacing old and outdated drainage pipes.
Anyone who buys goods in Bay County pays the half-cent sales tax. This means that visitors and tourists to the county also help pay for the roads and bridges that they use.
Every dollar generated stays right here in Bay County. The revenues are evenly distributed across the county on projects that:
- Resurface roads
- Repair bridges
- Pave county dirt roads prone to flooding
- Reduce neighborhood flooding
Yes. This measure makes our sales tax equal to our neighbors in the panhandle in Gulf, Walton, and Okaloosa counties and is still less than the rates in Franklin, Calhoun, Washington, Wakulla, Liberty, Jackson, and Holmes counties.
Source:
https://floridarevenue.com/Forms_library/current/dr15dss.pdf
“Bay County’s one half cent local government infrastructure sales surtax”
➡ “Shall the half-cent sales surtax be levied for ten years in Bay County to provide for the repair of local roads, reduce traffic congestion, increase neighborhood safety with pedestrian paths, build sidewalks near schools, reduce local flooding and other similar uses authorized under Florida law and to seek matching state and federal funds for these purposes, subject to a citizen’s oversight committee and, to ensure that all dollars are spent in Bay County?
_____ YES = FOR THE ONE HALF CENT (1/2%) SALES TAX
_____ NO = AGAINST THE ONE HALF CENT (1/2%) SALES TAX”