Possibility of renewing 1% sales tax to pay for capital projects in Collier County

Collier County commissioners are discussing the renewal of a 1 percent sales tax.

“What we’re going to decide in here is to yes or no, to move forward with a referendum to put it maybe on next year’s ballot or maybe wait and say, has a lot of merit. But we want to maybe take a pause for a year, and maybe we vote next year on putting it on a future ballot,” said commissioner Rick LoCatro.

If they do move forward with a referendum, the question could go before voters again in 2026. Voters first approved the surtax in November 2018 but was set expire by the end of 2025 or once $490 million was collected. The county hit the max dollars two years earlier, so it is expiring by the end of the month.

“When it was put on the ballot, and it was basically asking citizens, would you like to tax yourself a little bit more, and maybe get a big return on investment, because it would collect a significant amount of money, millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars for a multitude of projects, and the projects were listed,” said LoCastro, “and citizens overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly voted yes.”

The surtax is different from the state sales tax. It only applies to the first $5,000 of the purchase price for qualifying items, which don’t include things like groceries and gas. Some people are against renewing the tax, saying it’s more of a one-time fix and not a long-term solution.

LoCastro said he’s heard from people on both sides and believes it’s 50/50. He said it’s not up to commissioners to vote on renewing. They are simply deciding whether or not voters will see it on the ballot again.

“The surtax allowed us to do a lot of things at a rapid pace that were really needed by the county, and in the end, you know, the voters decided in 2018,” LoCastro said. “I don’t want to take that decision out of the voters hands unless I hear something, you know, totally unique in today’s meeting.”