CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa County commissioners now have a tool to fund widening of the P.J. Adams Parkway-Antioch Road corridor.
A North Okaloosa Tax Increment Financing District will raise funds to expand the corridor to four lanes and construct an Interstate 10 interchange.
The idea behind a TIF is to siphon off all or a portion of any annual increase in property tax revenue — in a specific geographic area — for a number of years and use the money for earmarked projects.
Under Commissioner Kelly Windes’ proposal, the TIF would capture 100 percent of any property tax revenue increase during its first three years, and 75 percent of any increase during the next three years. In the seventh year, the TIF would draw off 50 percent of any property tax increase but no more than $500,000.
The TIF would begin accruing revenue in 2017, and county planners have estimated it could generate more than $4.3 million in its first six years. That money then can be leveraged to win state grants and convince lawmakers to send state money to Okaloosa County.
Commissioners Nathan Boyles, Windes and Trey Goodwin voted in favor of the TIF; Carolyn Ketchel and Wayne Harris voted against it on Tuesday.
GAS TAX VS. T.I.F.
Harris said a gas tax made sense as a funding source.
“You have a choice. You can either drive or not drive,” Harris said. “Historically, 99.99 percent of the money for roads comes from gas taxes … and we kind of set a precedent Tuesday with the ad valorem.”
Using an increase in the county’s current 10 cents per gallon gas tax would also shift some of the burden to visitors who pass through Crestview and North Okaloosa County en route to the beach communities in the south, he said.
“Forty percent of the people who transit that road are outsiders, and some of that (funding) would’ve been on their backs instead of local residents,” Harris said.
Boyles agreed that a gas tax increase would be the fairest revenue source, but “I’m a pragmatist,” he said. “A gas tax would’ve required a super majority of the county commission, but it was clear early on there would not be four votes for additional gas taxes."
FIVE MORE YEARS
It could take five more years before residents see earthmovers on P.J. Adams Parkway, but now there is a definite funding plan in place.
“This is real. It’s a sign of progress,” Boyles said. “We can now take the money from the TIF to Tallahassee and say to the state, ‘We don’t have all the dollars that we need, but we have a plan and we need your help.’”
“A good, sound decision was made,” Harris said. “We’ve got a plan. For years we had no plan.
"You’re still going to have people who are unhappy. I got a call Tuesday from a guy who said, ‘I hear you guys raised my taxes.’ No, we didn’t.”
Northwest Florida Daily News reporter Kari C. Barlow contributed to this story.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'A SIGN OF PROGRESS': PJ Adams expansion gets seed money