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r <br />J1 <br />098E <br />BOOK L,`,1141) <br />?l <br />Attorney Vitunac believed all five municipalities in the <br />county have passed a Resolution in support of the proposed 14 <br />sales tax and advised that if this ordinance passes today, there <br />will be a properly advertised election held on March 14th. <br />Commissioner Scurlock felt what he hears the most is misun- <br />derstanding about what the Legislature has granted the Commission <br />as options in terms of adopting this 14 surtax. We have lobbied <br />hard over the years for additional sources of revenue because of <br />the additional burdens put on us by the state and asked the state <br />to help, and we have been somewhat successful in that this <br />particular vehicle was provided. This, however, is not what we <br />lobbied for; we wanted something much more flexible. One of the <br />big concerns we hear is the 15 year period. It has been the <br />Commission's policy to go to the public and ask for things more <br />in a 5 year period, but the Legislature has not given us that <br />option. The present vehicle is a one time shot for up to 15 <br />years; so, we have tried within this ordinance to put ourselves <br />in the position of requiring 3 phases of 5 years each, to be <br />reviewed each 4th year. We do have the ability to do away with <br />the tax at any given point. Commissioner Scurlock emphasized <br />that the overall impact of not adopting this tax is far more <br />significant than any impact from adopting it because if we don't, <br />we are talking probably 3 mills which puts us right at our cap. <br />We must face the reality that we have serious growth problems <br />that must be addressed, and the proposed tax lets us spread the <br />expense over a much wider base. He then discussed the need to <br />have. some financing in the beginning because of cash flow <br />problems, i.e., short term borrowing rather than long term <br />financing, and felt these facts must be understood. Commissioner <br />Scurlock believed we have an intelligent community that recog- <br />nizes the need and felt the proposed ordinance is a good one. <br />Commissioner Eggert noted that one of the questions she gets <br />the most is what do we do with the 64 we get now. Actually we <br />don't get it, 514 of that 64 stays in Tallahassee. <br />14 <br />