Studer Community Institute

How much is a penny worth?

November 7, 2014
/ Reggie Dogan
/ economy

It’s déjà vu for Santa Rosa County after voters again rejected a penny sales tax to pay for a much-needed $50 million judicial center. I don’t live in Santa Rosa and have little reason to ever use the courthouse, but I found myself pulling for the referendum to pass this time. I really thought it would, but county officials still haven’t been able to sell voters on the dire need for a new courthouse. The Local Option Sales Tax would have generated about $12 million a year over five years, which would have been more than enough to replace the old, outdated structure that was built in 1927. In Escambia County, the passage of the sales tax was easy as scratching off a winning lottery ticket. Voters decisively marked their ballots to approve another 10-year sales tax extension for both the county one-cent tax and the School District’s half-cent tax. Over the past months Santa Rosa officials made their for the penny. They talked about safety and structural issues that included cramped rooms, a poor ventilation system, outdated phones and bathrooms, and the difficulty in securing inmates because of limited hallway space. The LOST still lost. Hunter Walker, Santa Rosa’s county administrator, said it’s typically easier to sell voters on fixing roads and building schools, than to get them excited about building a courthouse that most people rarely use anyway. “It doesn’t have the appeal,” Walker said. “It’s just hard for people to vote for a tax, regardless of how fair we may thing it is.” County folks now go the administrative center for services, such as paying taxes, renewing license and tags or looking up court records. The judicial building mostly is used for civil and criminal court cases and jury duty, so the average citizen doesn’t feel like they have a dog in the hunt. Meanwhile, the crumbling courthouse, built when Calvin Coolidge roamed the White House, will have to make do at least until a new president is elected in 2016. Don’t feel bad if you voted for the tax. Other folks are squeezing pennies, too. Voters in Pinellas County refused to pay a penny more to fund more mass transit. In Greenville, S.C., a place on the move in growth and development, couldn’t get voters to give one cent to pay for road improvements, leaving no clear plan for improving the county’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure. Taxes are a necessary evil. But few people are willing to pay more if they can avoid it. And folks in Santa Rosa refuse — over and over again — to pay one cent more. When LOST fails, it leaves government few options except cutting services, raising property taxes or going without. So, the good folks in Santa Rosa will have to put up with the crappy, crummy and cramped courthouse a few years longer — or maybe forever if officials can’t pry that pretty penny from their tight fists. Remember how long it took to approve liquor sales? Legalizing gay marriage and marijuana may come before the penny tax. Ben Franklin said that the nothing in the world is certain but death and taxes. He never lived — or voted — in Santa Rosa.

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How much is a penny worth?

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