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VOLUSIA

Volusia 'greenies' split on half-cent sales tax vote

Dinah Voyles Pulver
dpulver@gatehousemedia.com
Pat Northey on a trail at Lake Monroe Park.  [News-Journal/David Tucker]

As ballots arrived in mailboxes this week for the proposed half-cent sales tax in Volusia County, long-time members of the environmental community are split over whether they'll vote yes or no.

Some stand in support, citing the $408 million in water projects listed by local governments. Others say no way, despite the 144 offered projects.

Saundra Gray, a water advocate for more than 30 years, spoke in favor at a DeBary forum on the half-cent sales tax, and has sent emails to the local community in support.

Declining water quality “is a critical situation,”  Gray, a city resident, said at the DeBary forum.

“We’ve got to take care of these problems,” she said. “If we have to pay an extra half-cent to do this I think we should be more than willing.”

But Enterprise resident Sandra Walters, a long-time environmental advocate who battled to prevent condos on what is now Thornby Park in Deltona and served nearly 10 years on Volusia County's Growth Management Commission, is not convinced.

“There’s no direct proven connection between getting this money and the projects that are on the list,” Walters said. "It's a broken dotted line." She has little faith in local governments now or in the future to spend the sales tax money on the projects listed as part of the campaign.

“Even giving them 100 percent of my trust that they mean what they say, down the line, things are never simple,” she said. “People come and go and political priorities change, we’ve seen that time and time again. Accountability is suspect, if not missing."

“I used to think that forever meant forever," she said, "but there’s almost nothing that can’t be changed.”

Similar splits have appeared across the county.

“This split in the environmental community is baffling to me,” said Pat Northey, a former Volusia County councilwoman and long-time leader in the environmental community. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime to secure matching grants to set aside dollars to make sure our water supply and our springs and our lagoon are taken care of. Why would we not support it?”

Of the $1.7 billion in 2,618 projects on the project list for the proposed sales tax increase, projects related to water, either quality, quantity or stormwater total nearly $409 million.

Before the addition of Daytona Beach’s massive list of 1,780 projects that appeared to separate most of its street network by segment, water projects accounted for about 23 percent of the list.

In total, the tax is estimated to raise at least $900 million over 20 years, based on the first year estimate of $45 million, not including future growth. That's slightly more than half the estimated cost of all the projects on the list. An estimated 35 percent of the additional sales tax would be paid by tourists and visitors.

Perhaps not surprising given the massive flooding that has occurred in the county over the past 15 years and the forecast for worsening problems as sea levels continue to rise, the greatest number and value of projects focus on stormwater, a total of 104 projects at a cost of $186 million. That includes better treatment of stormwater to remove pollution and flood control projects in the network of canals that drains much of coastal Volusia County when it rains. 

Improvements to wastewater treatment account for another 22 projects, at a cost of $170 million. Other projects include efforts to recharge the aquifer, rehabilitate city water wells and convert some neighborhoods from septic tanks to sewers to improve water quality. Lake Helen, for example, has a $120,000 project to try to remove silt and sediment from its namesake lake.

Volusia County Utilities Director Michael Ulrich also has been baffled by the split among environmentalists. He's fully aware of how much the projects are going to cost to try to meet state mandates to clean up the water in Mosquito Lagoon and the Halifax River and Blue Spring, Gemini Springs and DeLeon Springs.

"Regardless of whether the sales tax passes, these things are going to have to happen," Ulrich said. "The benefit of the sales tax is there’s this additional money that comes from outside sources."

Much of the opposition to the sales tax measure is driven by residents' anger over what they see as uncontrolled growth taking place across the area. Walters noted the advocates fear the impact of the road projects or see them as local governments trying to play catch up to growth that never should have happened in the first place.

“I do think it’s a path to more growth,” Walters said.

Other advocates have pointed to the demands sprawling growth places on the state’s water supplies, at a time when local governments are looking to use reclaimed water to replenish the aquifer and area residents remain under water restrictions.

Even as Northey is frustrated by the split, she said she understands the anger and trust issues many environmental advocates have with local governments.

“They’re mad all over about growth, in Ormond Beach, in Port Orange, in New Smyrna Beach,” Northey said. “People look at (the growth) and they say there you go again.”

Whether the sales tax passes or not, the community has the chance to take the energy that has grown in recent months and use it to drive key issues going forward, Northey said.

If the tax is approved, environmental advocates should stay on top of how the county and every city wants to spend the money, said Northey. “It takes getting in their faces,” she said. “Elected officials respond to those who make telephone calls and send email. “Most importantly, electing like-minded people to the commissions and councils, that’s really where the rubber meets the road.”

“It will take many people coming together to change the attitude because they’re going to have to elect like-minded people,” she said. “They tried that in Ormond Beach and they weren’t able to do it.”

“You’ve got to have mainstream candidates who understand what the environmental considerations are and are willing to commit to spend that money on projects. And, you’re also going to have to lobby the cities to put people on that citizen’s oversight committee. They will help make sure the water projects are first and foremost in people’s minds.”