EXPLANATION OF REQUEST: Palm Beach County, the School District and the PBC Cultural Council have been considering a one-half penny sales tax to pay for much needed infrastructure improvements (roads, bridges, county parks, public facilities and public safety initiatives), technology improvements, building safety improvements and economic development.
Instead of each agency seeking its own sales tax referendum all agencies decided to collaborate for one initiative to demonstrate unity, good planning and combined leadership. Florida Statutes provides that municipalities automatically share in the distribution of a surtax which is distributed by population.
The proceeds from the one penny are proposed to be distributed as follows: School District 48.0%; PBC 27.5%; Municipalities 18.5%, PBC Cultural Council 4.5% and 1.5% for economic development. The surtax is proposed for 10 years, at which time it would sunset.
Early on during the discussions the County requested cities to submit their list of needs and backlog. All of Boynton Beach's needs are identified in the city's Capital Improvement Budget as adopted by the City Commission on an annual basis. Therefore, staff submitted the attached list of our 5 year Capital Improvement Program.
Also attached is a spreadsheet which demonstrates the annual revenues all agencies can anticipate receiving. Should the combined initiative go to the ballot as proposed, and be approved by the voters, the City's distribution would be approximately $3.9M annually for ten years.
This Resolution demonstrates our support of the initiative.