A special sales tax may be the way to end Volusia County’s stormwater problems and drainage woes. 

The idea emerged as the County Council considered hiking the annual charge for stormwater management.

“This conversation about sales tax — we’re already taxed enough,” County Vice Chair Troy Kent told his peers. “I’m a hard no on a sales tax.”

The what-if proposal surfaced April 2, as the Council Council debated and decided to raise the stormwater-utility assessment in the unincorporated areas, effective for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Council Member Danny Robins suggested the possibility of a referendum on a “stormwater tax.” The debate came after Public Works Director Benjamin Bartlett warned about a lack of cash to keep up with the problems the county now faces.

“With no change in the revenue, you’re looking at 2026 with a deficit situation,” Bartlett said.

From there the council moved from proposed increments in the annual assessment to the new suggestion of a local-option sales tax for stormwater woes.

The proposal to stage a countywide vote on a sales tax to cure flooding from abundant rainfall — including hurricanes — commanded attention from Robins’ colleagues, as they volleyed about how much to raise the annual assessment. 

One proposal was to increase the stormwater fee by 50 cents, leveling it at $7 per month, or $84 annually. Not enough, said critics.

After intense dialogue, the council voted 5-2 to increase the special assessment from $6.50 to $8 per month — or, from $78 to $96 annually for a standard home. The charges will be higher for businesses or other improved private properties impervious, and even churches, if their footprint or paved-over/built-upon area exceeds that of a conventional single-family home. The higher stormwater fee will generate an estimated $6.1 million yearly, whereas the assessment now in effect yields approximately $5 million.

The stormwater charge appears on the tax bills mailed to all owners of property within the non-city portions of the county in late October or early November. 

Tax bills, when due, must be paid in full. Special assessments must be paid in conjunction with the ad valorem taxes, and the taxing authorities do not accept partial payments. The county, like the cities, also imposes a special assessment for solid waste pickup and disposal.

Still, the prospect of a sales tax for stormwater remedies added a new element of interest in the council’s conversation about how to deal with a nagging and growing problem.

“Flooding is an issue, and we’ve got to address it,” Council Member Matt Reinhart said.

Is a sales tax the answer?

“A sales tax would be for capital, not for operating expenses,” county Chief Financial Officer Ryan Ossowski told the council.

The latest discussion about a local-option sales tax for infrastructure for such outlays as stormwater-management systems comes five years after Volusia County’s voters soundly rejected such a tax. By a 2-to-1 margin, in the county’s first-ever vote-by-mail referendum, the 2019 proposition for a half-cent sales tax for roads and other capital projects, including those to improve water quality. The ballot count was 26,969 against the sales tax and 13,164 in favor of it.

Had the add-on sales tax been approved, it would have yielded an estimated $45 million annually for 20 years, county officials said. 

Supporters of the tax also said tourists and visitors would pay about 40 percent of the sales tax. The proceeds of the tax would be divided between the county government and the 16 cities.

“Regarding the sales tax, I think it’s 60/40 [percent],” Council Member Jake Johansson recalled.

That is, Volusians would pay the higher share of the revenues, while the visitors would pay the remainder. Despite the promise to give new cash to every one of the county’s local governments, the voters rejected the sales tax for infrastructure.

What happened in 2019 was not a first. In 1992, a majority of Volusia County’s electorate voted down a 1-cent sales tax for capital projects.

Yet, the county’s voters approved on two occasions — 2001 and 2014 — a half-cent sales tax for school construction.

Mindful of “previous failures” to persuade voters to approve a sales tax, Council Member David Santiago advised caution in trying to drum up support for a sales tax.

“If we go there, I think it has to be narrowly defined,” he cautioned.

County Chair Jeff Brower shied away from endorsing a local sales tax.

“I’m not with Mr. Robins yet on a sales tax,” he said. “Before we do a sales tax, I think we ought to do what we have here.”

The “what we have here” was an increase in the stormwater charge — and by how much. Efforts to raise the annual non-ad valorem assessment by 50 cents per month and $1 per month failed, before the council voted for an increase of $1.50 — or $18 per year. Agreement did not come easily.

“I think it should go to at least $8 [per month],” Council Member David Santiago argued. “This one we’ve got to be serious about.”

Santiago panned the motion to raise the monthly fee amount from $6.50 to $7.

“I’m going to vote no on this, because I think it’s too low [$7],” he added.

Kent vocally opposed the $8 figure.

“This is a tax on our residents,” he said. “I would rather take an incremental pieces than a big wallop.”

“I’m in for a buck increase,” Kent added. “I can’t go with more than that right now.”

Johansson suggested there may be solid public support for a targeted charge.

“I would opine they do want to pay for stormwater,” he said. “We’re going to increase your fee, but we can do away with that with a sales tax.”

A short time later, the County Council adopted the $96 stormwater charge. The majority included council members who had ardently championed last year’s repeal of two taxes — the business-tax receipts and the communications tax — levied in the unincorporated areas. The increased stormwater assessment garnered the support of Brower, Robins, Johansson, Santiago and Reinhart. Kent and Council Member Don Dempsey dissented.

The new charge becomes effective Oct. 1, the beginning of the county’s new fiscal year.

Among those watching and supporting the County Council’s movement toward more revenue was Deltona City Commissioner Dana McCool. 

“I understand the cruel reality of where we need to go,” she told the council. 

McCool added, however, local governments should perhaps look to other parties for help in resolving drainage problems.

“I didn’t hear any one of you talk about developers’ responsibility,” she said.

On a related note, McCool said Deltona will consider raising its stormwater assessment this spring. The City Commission, heeding a public outcry against any increase, last year declined to raise Deltona’s annual stormwater fee from $128 to $160.