CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa County Commissioner Nathan Boyles says in the coming weeks he will investigate two areas with a history of flooding.
Stanley Lane, in Baker, and Adams Road, north of Crestview, are on his radar following a public meeting he hosted on storm water damage.
Boyles, along with Okaloosa County Public Works Director John Hofstad and engineers Clay Simmons and Jason Autry, listened to residents' concerns about April flood damage Thursday at the county courthouse in Crestview.
The department is doing its best with limited resources, Hofstad said.
“We have over $5 million (worth) of damage to our roads and $70,000 in damage to some of our storm water features,” he said. “We do not have a $5.1 million reserve.”
Even with FEMA assistance, the county needs additional funding, Hofstad said.
“With all of the projects submitted … the best we can hope for is 75 percent reimbursement from the federal government,” he said. “At a minimum, we are still going to have to come up with $1.2 or $1.5 million to cover the projects.”
One option to solve the funding issue is a 1 cent sales tax, proposed by Boyles.
“We could do more good for Okaloosa County in five years off a 1 cent sales tax than we have done in 40 years … but we got to build the political will to do so,” Boyles said.
Whatever it is, something needs to be done, Baker resident Joyce Cosson said.
Baker's Stanley Lane and Griffith Mill Road have a history of flooding, she said, adding "there is too much infrastructure that has to be done.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: County commissioner: 1 cent sales tax could aid flood relief efforts