Volusia elected officials to hold off on forming a transportation subcommittee

Ormond Beach Observer
News

Volusia County elected officials are still interested in a transportation subcommittee — but maybe, after the new year?

The Roundtable of Volusia County Elected Officials met at the Daytona Beach International Airport on Monday, May 9, and came to the consensus that the effort to form a subcommittee to address infrastructure needs should begin anew in January 2023, as there was little immediate interest among the county's 16 municipalities, and because there will be turnover come the November elections.

At the beginning of the discussion, Roundtable Chair and Deltona Mayor Heidi Herzberg said the only stipulation from the county on the subcommittee's creation was that a municipality take the lead in the administrative side of the subcommittee by keeping minutes and scheduling meetings.

Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette, who has been vocal on the need for the subcommittee in the past roundtable meetings, volunteered. But he had stipulations of his own: That those who serve on the subcommittee be fully committed, and that there be citizen involvement.

"My problem with it is we're fractured on our direction about it," he said. "I don't want to do anything halfway."

Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington was in favor of delaying the subcommittee issue, not only because of the elections, but also because he said he felt this was a "precursor to a one-cent sales tax."

The future of the roundtable?

At the meeting, Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington suggested the Roundtable of Volusia County Elected Officials should meet quarterly in the future. The group currently meets every other month.

He also said he was open to discussing holding the meetings at a different time, as 9 a.m. on Mondays is not only hard for elected officials with day jobs but also for citizens to attend. He suggested the meetings be held closer to the end of the workday, such as around 4 or 4:30 p.m.

"I feel like what we do here isn't in the public view as a meeting that they would at least have access to," he said.

Holly Hill Mayor Chris Via agreed on both suggestions, though added that if there was a pressing emergency issue the elected officials were actively collaborating on, meetings should be held more frequently than once a quarter.

"For instance, during the pandemic, I think that this was very helpful for all our cities to be able to share information and get information directly from certain people," he said.

But changing the time could impact some municipalities who have workshops or government meetings Monday evening.

The issue will be brought forward again at a later meeting for discussion.

In May 2019, Volusia held a special election for a half-cent sales tax referendum for infrastructure projects; it failed by 55% of the vote. Partington questioned why some would think a one-cent sales tax would be passed by voters. Some, he explained, may feel like the half-cent sales tax referendum failed because "it wasn't enough to meet the needs," and a one-cent sales tax will pass because it might be deemed enough.

"That makes no sense to me," he said. "I think there will be double the opposition to a one-cent sales tax than there was to a half-cent sales tax, and that half-cent effort started out well but it just turned into a disaster at the end whenever everybody piled in their special interests."

The projects that could have been funded by the half-cent sales tax ranged from roadway improvements and reconstruction, to new school sidewalks, to stormwater improvements and septic tank conversions.

Partington said a sales tax initiative needs to be citizen-driven.

Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower said that if the final outcome of a transportation subcommittee is indeed a sales tax increase, that "it will fail more miserably than the first one did."

"The public doesn't think that we're taking the way that we're developing, the requirements that lead to more and more infrastructure — they don't we're taking it seriously," Brower said.

Before such a committee is formed, he said the elected officials should form a committee of their own where they speak about topics like what each municipality is doing to examine their comprehensive land use standards to regulate density.

Burnette said that there were a lot of problems with the last sales tax initiative.

"It's like a Christmas tree," he said. "You put too many ornaments on it. They look nice but it falls over. That's kind of what happened. There were a lot of things that didn't belong."

What he was seeking was an effort to bring into focus what needs Volusia County is facing right now before more growth is added. Since it is being pushed until 2023, Burnette said that each municipality should internally assess and prioritize their infrastructure needs and be prepared for January.

The roundtable will meet again on Sept. 12.