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BOOK CLERK'S NOTE: At approximately 10:30 a.m., the Chairman declared a brief recess. All members of the Commission were present when the meeting reconvened about 8 minutes later. 11.E. OPTIONAL SALES TAX - THIRD FIVE YEARS The Board reviewed a Memorandum of November 3, 1998: TO: Members of the Board of County Commissioners DATE: November 3, 1998 SUBJECT: OPTIONAL SALES TAR - THIRD FIVE YEARS FROM: James E. Chandler Joseph A. County Administiator OMB Dir Background Information �10 6 PAGE 5 3 Chapter 87-239 Laws of Florida initiated the "Local Government Infrastructure Commitment Act", which allowed counties to levy, for a period of up to fifteen years, a one cent tax on all transactions subject to taxation under Chapter 212.054 of the Florida statutes. In order to enact the surtax, an ordinance must be passed by the majority of the members of the Board of County Commissioners and then approved by a majority of votes in a referendum or passed by governing bodies of municipalities, representing a majority of the County's population, and approved by a majority of voters in a referendum. The Indian River County Board of County Commissioners, on January 31, 1989 passed ordinance 89-6 calling for a county -wide referendum on the levy of the one cent sales tax to be held on Tuesday, March 14, 1989. Shortly thereafter the Optional Sales Tax was endorsed by every City within Indian River County. The Chamber ofCommerce, Taxpayers Association, Civic Association, Gifford Progressive League, Board ofRealtors, Association of General Contractors and the Treasure Coast Home Builders Association all endorsed the Optional Sales Tax at that time. The voters passed the Optional Sales Tax to go into effect June 1, 1989. (60.3% voted for the tax and 39.7% voted against the tax.) When promoting the Optional Sales Tax, the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners put additional constraints on the use of the sales tax by promising that proceeds would be used only for essential capital projects. It was also emphasized that in the future a good portion of Optional Sales Tax would go towards the purchase of right-of-way and roads to help offset the deficit in the Comprehensive Plan. An additional commitment was made to have a list of projects approved in five year intervals by the Board of County Commissioners in a public hearing. We have reached the point to begin planning the third and final five year list of projects (actually only 4 %s years remaining - October 1, 1999 to May 31, 2004). For "preliminary planning purposes" the County Administrator and Budget Office has requested a list of major projects from each department. Attached is an unedited list of all projects submitted by departments. Project costs are very rough and have not been verified for accuracy or reasonableness. This is simply the first stage of the process in which we begin compiling the list of projects and their estimated cost. Staff is submitting the list to the Board of County commissioners for discussion. The final decision on which projects will be funded through optional sales tax will be recommended by the County Administrator and approved by the Board of County Commissioners in the spring of 1999. Attachments November 10, 1998