Palm Beach County’s proposed plan to increase the sales tax by a penny from six cents to seven cents on the dollar is now going to the voters. Enough cities have approved the plan to put it on the ballot as a referendum on in the Nov. 8 election.
Palm Beach Post government reporter Wayne Washington explained that the issue needs to go to a referendum because the funds raised with the new taxes would not go to local cities but to fund other projects.
“If the county is going to share the revenue from a sales tax with some entity other than the cities the cities then have to approve that distribution of sales tax proceeds – that’s what the issue is,” Washington said.
The Palm Beach County Commission and school board have both already approved the plan. If 50 percent of voters agree, then $2.7 billion raised over the next 10 years from the increase will go to fund transportation, school and government projects.
If the referendum fails, then the county will have to find other ways to fund the $696 million backlog of projects.
