By Nathan Sparks, CEcD

We are now just a little more than 30 days out from the November 3 election and, along with choosing a new Governor, Okaloosa County voters will also have the opportunity to renew the county’s half cent infrastructure surtax that was initially approved in 2018. Given One Okaloosa’s desire to see our community maintain its current trajectory – and continue to have access to vital resources that support strategic (and necessary) infrastructure investments – it should come as no surprise that we are staunchly in favor of the renewal of the half cent infrastructure surtax. In fact, late last year, the One Okaloosa EDC Executive Committee voted to officially endorse the renewal effort. In doing so, we joined forces with other local business support organizations including the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce, the Destin Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Niceville Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce and the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors. Each of these organizations supports maintaining a dedicated funding stream to undertake essential community improvements that is partially paid by visitors. Notably, one third of the nearly $130M in surtax funding collected has been generated by tourist spending! Without the surtax, we would have essentially left $39M of tourist contributions “on the table” - funding that has now been used to support some 56 projects countywide – projects as diverse as the construction of the Southwest Crestview Bypass to Commons Drive sidewalk connections in Destin. Bottom line, in a community like ours that people enjoy visiting, it just makes “cents” to capitalize on all that economic activity and, in turn, make Okaloosa a better place to live and work. Need more info? Check out https://itstillmakescents.com/

Yet another item that will be on the November 3 ballot is Amendment 3. This one has spurred impassioned debate on both sides of the issue – and rightfully so. Property taxes hit differently than sales tax, with increasing property valuations being tied to market dynamics that are truly out of the homeowner’s control. Thankfully, Florida has the “Save Our Homes” provision that caps the annual increase in the assessed value of a homesteaded property at either 3% or the percent change in the CPI, whichever is lower. While One Okaloosa EDC supports continued tax reform, Amendment 3 - as presently structured - is not something that we support. Ultimately, we feel that the uncertainties created by what was developed in a very rushed Special Session (with no fiscal impact analyses, no opportunity for local governments and law enforcement leaders to weigh in, and no stop gap to help smaller counties and municipalities remain solvent) are too significant to ignore. Further, with the proposal only benefiting homesteaded properties, we worry about the possibility that the owners of commercial property (the businesses who employ our citizens) will see their property taxes rise. If this happens, suddenly Okaloosa - and Florida as a whole - may become less competitive for business expansion/attraction. Of course, we encourage everyone to do their homework on the issue. Florida TaxWatch has developed a great resource to assist in that regard:  https://floridataxwatch.org/research/florida-property-tax-resource-center/