Charter County and Regional Transportation System Surtax
Considered for November 2012 ballot
By the Alachua County Board of County Commissions (BoCC)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a Charter County Transportation System Surtax?
A: The Charter County Transportation System Surtax is a local option sales tax that can be used for Transportation System needs such as maintenance and operations, design, development and construction of roadways, as well as transit services.
Q: What does the County want to use this money for?
A: The County has determined to use these funds for the Pavement Management Program project list. This is a ‘ranked’ project list that includes maintenance and operations, or repaving, of existing roads. This does not include new roads or capacity enhancements, or sidewalks and bike paths as stand-alone projects. Where required as part of ADA or safety requirements, sidewalks and bike paths may be included in projects on the County’s project list, but funds will not be used for stand-alone sidewalk or bike path projects on County roads.
Q: How will the money be distributed?
A: The State Statute provides that revenues will be distributed to the County to be used as it deems appropriate. For this initiative, the County Commission is proposing to retain 50% of the proceeds for it’s own Pavement Management projects, and distribute the rest to the Cities.
Q: How much money will my City get?
A: A “Potential Tax Distribution Techniques” table has been drafted and shared with City staff and commissions for discussion. The potential distribution is based on a formula of road mileage and population similar to that used for distribution of Gas Tax funds.
Q: What will the Cities use this money for?
A: The County Commission is asking each City to develop their own project list based upon that community’s needs.
Q: What is on my City’s project list?
A: County staff has not yet received City project lists. As these become available they will be posted on this website. In the interim, please contact the appropriate City Commission for more information.
Q: What does “ADA” mean for roads?
A: "ADA" refers to the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are several ADA requirements when it comes to roads, the most common is the width of the sidewalk ramp. ‘ADA’ upgrades may include widening the sidewalk ramp where necessary.
Q: Does the Ranking Methodology approved by the BoCC include an emphasis on heavy use roads?
A: Yes, the Ranking Methodology is designed to take high and heavy traffic volume into account with the dual calculations of deterioration rate and traffic volumes.
Q: How much will this cost me, the citizen?
A: Every person’s spending habits are different so an exact number can not be given. The surtax as proposed will cost an extra 1% of sales tax on all taxable goods and services. For example, if you spend $2000 each month on taxable goods and services (groceries, clothes, beauty services, etc.), you would spend an additional 1%, or $20.
Q: If the Transportation System Surtax passes, will the Gas Tax go away?
A: Not yet. The Gas Tax has several different pieces. Three of these come up for renewal before the County and City commissions in 2018.
Q: Can this be used for non-transportation items, like Wild Spaces, Public Places?
A: No, Chapter 212.55(1)(d)4 of the statute lists what the revenues can be used for, which are all transportation and related projects.
Q: What are Gas Tax funds used for?
A: The local Gas Taxes used by the County and all the municipal governments averages approximately 12-cents per gallon on Motor Fuels, and slightly less on Diesel Fuels. Current estimates project approximately $8.5M in unincorporated County Gas Tax revenues for 2011. These funds are used for the day-to-day operations of the Public Works Department with approximately 12% of these funds being used to fund transit services in the unincorporated area. Nearly all of the gas taxes are tied to intergovernmental agreements with the City of Gainesville.
Q: Will the County and City project lists be ‘locked down?’
A: Most likely, the projects and services list will be included in a 2012 Transportation System Surtax ordinance adopted by the Board of County Commissioners and placed on the 2012 general election ballot for voter approval, although the ballot question will not include a project list. Any future Commission can change the list, however, any new or different projects or services must still be consistent with the intent of the surtax. This means that new items must still be transportation-related. It is very rare that any future Commission will take this type of action.
Q: Assuming this passed, how do we ensure the money does not get reassigned?
A: State law and the County ordinance imposing the tax limits the use of the revenues.
Q: What can we do to ensure funds from other sources are not cut if the surtax passes?
A: The appropriation of funds is within the authority of the respective governing bodies.
Q: How long will the tax be in place for?
A: County Staff estimates the need for this level of funding to be 20 years. However, the Board may choose to place a ten or fifteen-year time frame in the ballot language to allow for review of the County’s transportation system needs halfway through the 20 years.
Q: Can County and City projects be bundled to reduce costs and maximize the use of revenues?
A: Yes, County staff has discussed this idea with the Cities. Where possible, projects can be merged to reduce mobilization and project other costs in order to maximize use of the funds.
Q: Can projects be grouped geographically to save costs?
A: Yes, County staff will look for opportunities to “bundle” projects that are geographically near one another in order to reduce administration/contract costs.
Q: What category of road work does limerock roads fall in?
A: This program is funded by the Gas Tax and is not affected by this initiative.
Q: Do projects have to be funded per the ranking methodology?
A: It is the intent that the methodology be used to ensure projects are funded based on greatest need first.
Q: Does the surtax have a purchase cap? For example the first $5K of the purchase price?
A: Local option sales taxes apply to all admissions, rentals of property, and sales of items of tangible personal property subject to the state sales tax and the payment for all services taxable under the state sales tax, including commercial cleaning services, pest control services, and security services. The local option sales tax applies only to the first $5,000 of the purchase price of an item of tangible personal property and telecommunication services while the state sales tax applies to the entire purchase price regardless of amount. The $5,000 limitation of the local option sales tax does not apply to payment for services. The $5,000 cap on other taxable transactions restricts the revenue collections of the local option sales taxes to an amount much lower than the revenues generated by the state general sales tax without the cap.
Q: The “Tower Road Network” project has been mentioned as a possible use of these funds. What does this project include?
A: This includes several projects on Tower Road/SW 75th St, between Newberry Road and Archer Road, as well as several projects on and involving SW 8th Avenue.
Q: The Ranking Methodology approved by the BoCC includes an emphasis on heavy use roads by representing this through both the deterioration rate and traffic volumes calculations?
A: Yes, the Ranking Methodology is designed to take high and heavy traffic volume into account with the dual calculations of deterioration rate and traffic volumes.