An extension of the current half-cent sales tax in St. Lucie might not make it to the November ballot, despite the county previously voting to move it forward. Mayte Santamaria, the Deputy County Administrator, said the alternative is a 2028 vote.
"If you choose to extend that to the November 2028 date, we would go through the actions of rescinding this ordinance and then adopting the next appropriate ordinance for that new date. Again, if you choose to go to the November 2028 date, it's one month before the lapse of the existing infrastructure sales tax," she said.
The county currently has a half-cent sales tax that was approved by voters in 2018 and lasts through 2028. Money collected from the tax is used to fund infrastructure projects across the county, supporting dozens over the last eight years.
Initially, the county and its cities wanted to renew it preemptively to prevent any downtime between when the old tax expires and when the new one takes effect.
The county's communications manager, Erick Gill, said they also worry about the next governor.
"One of the concerns that was brought up about waiting is we don't know what the state legislature might do next year and whether or not infrastructure sales taxes will be allowed. There's some people running for governor who want to do away with local sales tax options," he said. "So again, it's an unknown, and I think that's kind of the reason the city wanted to continue the path forward with keeping it on the ballot this year."
However, there is some pushback from the board. Despite supporting the tax as a whole, Commissioner James Clasby has concerns about the optics of putting it on the ballot with property tax reform.
"I don't want it on the 2026 ballot because there's amendment three on it. There's the school board. I don't care what their survey sample size of 400 people said," he said. "I don't think it's a smart idea to put a tax on a ballot where people are being asked to basically eliminate taxes."
Likewise, Commissioner Erin Lowry said that she thinks if they add it to the ballot, it will only get shot down.
"Tax just has a negative feeling no matter what it is. And I don't feel like enough people understand that it's a continuation and not a new tax. And residents are hurting and they're going to see the word tax and they're going to vote against it," she said.
Commissioners Cathy Townsend and Jamie Fowler both stood opposite to Lowry and Clasby. Fowler spoke to the unknowns of the future.
"We saw how in one legislative session in a blink of an eye, we can't change our comprehensive plan and our land development code. So there's nothing stopping one legislative session from us not being able to do something with our sales tax," she said.
When it came time to vote, the commission was split due to the absence of Commissioner Larry Leet, meaning they'll need to revisit the item at their Aug. 4 meeting. This falls just one day before the deadline to submit to the supervisor of elections.