City Manager's Annual Report Annual Report 2018 | A Year In Review | Page 12

P
O
R
T
HALF-CENT FOR
PSL PROGRESS
BETTER ROADS, MORE SIDEWALKS,
AND CLEANER RIVERS
Half-Cent Sales Tax is estimated
to generate $18.6 million annually
with 15 to 20 percent of the
revenue generated by visitors
from outside of St. Lucie County.
P ort St. Lucie, along with St. Lucie County and Fort Pierce, are about to embark
on a new decade of progress after voters in November 2018 approved a half-cent
sales tax to improve roads and rivers and build more sidewalks.
Elected leaders and staff from the county and two cities worked together for
most of 2018 to help educate voters about the approved projects that will be
made possible because of the half-cent sales tax increase. This collaboration
resulted in a multi-faceted educational campaign that included websites, printed
materials, videos, media appearances, two open house events and numerous
community presentations and meetings.
“We’re building something special in Port St. Lucie; and to reach our full potential,
to be a community that embraces the future while standing the test of time, we
need to ensure that we have a solid foundation of basic infrastructure, that we
have better roads and more sidewalks,” Mayor Gregory Oravec said in a mailer
to residents.
Because of previous years of declining property values and the Great Recession,
local governments have had to postpone maintenance projects such as repaving,
sidewalks and stormwater improvements, creating a backlog in the billions.
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CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE 2018 ANNUAL REPORT