BAKER — The Okaloosa County public works department and County Commissioner Nathan Boyles will discuss potential taxpayer-funded McCauley Road improvements during a public meeting Thursday.
Discussion will focus on creating a municipal service taxing unit, or district, to fund road improvement and maintenance for residences on the less than 1-mile private dirt road.
Keep reading for the meeting's time and location.
Property owners can sign a petition if they want the county to levy ad valorem taxes in the area to maintain the road, which would become public. A majority of property owners’ signatures and county commissioners’ approval would bind the agreement.
Details including cost are unmentioned at this time, but county officials said the road’s residents would have options if the agreement goes into effect.
“We can either maintain (the road) to county dirt road standards or pave it and maintain it to paved county road standards,” said Clay Simmons, a public works department manager.
Thursday’s meeting will help county officials understand how many of the road’s residents support the idea.
“The community meeting will be an opportunity to share information and gauge the community’s interest in moving forward with a special taxing district,” Boyles said in an email.
The MSTU would be the first successful type of funding mechanism to pave an Okaloosa road, and it would serve as a model for future projects, county officials said.
“It is my hope that if the residents on McCauley Road are supportive of the process, we can build a program around the project that can be applied to other similar roads throughout the county in the future,” Boyles said.
Want to go?
The meeting is at 6 p.m. Thursday at Baker Recreational Center.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: McCauley Road residents to give feedback on tax district Thursday