The Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners' approval of a policy to help fund construction activities, such as drainage and roadwork, could help residents living on private, unpaved paths.
Residents living in unincorporated areas could sign a petition to deed their right of way to the county and pay a tax for paving and maintaining areas like McCauley Road in Baker and paths in The Pines subdivision east of Crestview.
Last May, Commissioner Nathan Boyles organized a town hall meeting to get residents' input on possibly creating a municipal services benefit unit, which taxes residents for paving, maintenance and using county materials, equipment and labor.
"The process requires that residents circulate a petition to obtain the support of two-thirds of the residents who live on the road to be paved," Boyles states in his latest newsletter. "The county can then establish … (an MSBU) to collect the cost of the paving materials from the residents living on the road. After the project is completed, the road then can be accepted into regular county maintenance."
Commissioners Wayne Harris, Don Amunds, Kelly Windes and Boyles voted Tuesday in favor of the MSBU program, as presented, noting the need to remove minor spelling and clerical errors.
Commissioner Dave Parisot, who said he supports the concept but wanted to revisit the issue in two weeks, and vote on a document without clerical errors, voted against it.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: New county policy could help fund road improvements