PORT ST. LUCIE — Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County officials remain at odds over whether a proposed extension of the county's half-cent infrastructure sales tax should appear on the November ballot, with the issue expected to return to county commissioners just one day before the ballot deadline.
The disagreement comes despite a joint agreement reached in March in which the county and its municipalities agreed to place the measure before voters.
Richard Berrios, the Port St. Lucie city attorney, said Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie have already taken formal action in support of the referendum, while uncertainty has emerged at the county level.
"Fort Pierce and ourselves passed resolutions, essentially setting the surtax rate at a half a cent, calling for the referendum, and I think it's public knowledge that the county had a meeting on Tuesday [July 21] where there was some trepidation and discussion on whether to run a ballot later than 2026," he said.
Some county commissioners have questioned whether the measure should appear on this year's ballot, primarily because of concerns about the optics of placing a sales tax question alongside a statewide property tax reform measure.
Port St. Lucie considered adopting another resolution supporting the referendum, but Councilman Anthony Bonna argued it was unnecessary because he believes responsibility for placing the measure on the ballot rests with the county.
"If we pass this, there's going to be a narrative out here that the city put this on the ballot, the city did this, the city did that. This is already done. It's finished. This is superfluous. If four out of five county commissioners would be required to undo an ordinance under emergency procedures, they don't have that, because two commissioners support it being on the ballot," he said.
Bonna also cited state law, saying it appears to require the county to place the measure on the ballot if a local government representing a majority of the county's population adopts a supporting resolution.
Berrios said discussions with the county attorney and the attorney for the Supervisor of Elections have continued as officials work through the legal questions surrounding the measure.
"Regardless of whether or not this resolution is passed, is denied, is tabled, my legal position won't change. I am still going to have those exact same conversations I intended on having with both parties, assert our legal position as a collective," he said. "If there's some sort of escalation that necessitates some sort of legal proceedings, I will be coming back to you all with hat in hand, asking for permission."
The half-cent sales tax is not a new tax. Voters first approved it in 2018, and it is scheduled to expire in 2028. County officials originally sought to place the renewal on the ballot early to avoid any interruption in revenue collection once the current tax expires.
If approved, the extension would remain in effect through 2038 and generate an estimated $173 million for infrastructure projects. The revenue is used for projects such as road resurfacing, which Vice Mayor Jolien Caraballo said would be difficult to complete without the funding.
"I think they [residents] would be very surprised to see basically everything we've done, pretty much everything's been completed. Which is virtually impossible with the level of inflation we've had in the last 10 years and all of these other aspects," she said. "I think that's an important story to tell."
St. Lucie County commissioners are scheduled to consider the issue again at their Aug. 4 meeting, one day before the Aug. 5 deadline to place the measure on the November ballot.