Hernando County advances new half-cent sales tax bid for road funding

Hernando County commissioners moved another half-cent sales tax referendum forward, voting 4-0 to have County Attorney Jon Jouben draft an ordinance for the ballot question, with Commissioner Brian Hawkins absent. The new push came as county leaders again wrestled with how to pay for expensive roadwork, routine maintenance and future transportation needs without creating a hole in next year’s budget.

The county’s top-priority road list totals about $89.96 million and includes Barclay Road phases 1 and 2, Kettering Road, County Line Road and the Ayers and Culbreath traffic circle. A second-tier list adds Sunshine Grove Road, Cortez Oaks and Powell Road widening. County transportation materials describe County Line Road as a major east-west connector and evacuation route, while planning documents show the project would widen a 2.8-mile stretch from Cobblestone Drive to Spring Time Street. Barclay Avenue is planned for about 2.9 miles from Elgin Boulevard and Powell Road to State Road 50, and Sunshine Grove Road is slated for about 1.5 miles from Ken Austin Parkway to Hexam Road.

Commissioners also compared two ways to raise money: shifting 0.2 mills from the General Fund to transportation, which would bring in about $4 million, or adopting the half-cent sales tax, which would be expected to generate about $17.45 million. The county said road projects can now be funded mainly through gas-tax revenue, with impact fees available for debt service, but officials worried that future debt payments could squeeze money available for maintenance. County Administrator Jeff Rogers had also warned earlier that resurfacing costs about $595,000 per mile in a county with 1,578 paved miles, a scale that shows why the debate keeps coming back.

Rogers told commissioners in January 2025 that if they wanted a 2026 referendum, the process needed to begin no later than April so there would be time for public discussion and an ordinance. At that meeting, he said the county’s planned capital projects totaled $236.39 million, while gas-tax revenue ran about $13 million to $14 million annually. He also floated a Community Investment MSTU as another option, with deadlines that would have required action before January 1, 2026 for unincorporated Hernando County or before July 1, 2025 if Brooksville were included.

The household cost question remains central. County impact-fee schedules effective December 2, 2024 show a single-family detached home charged $8,896.50 in total impact fees, including $2,811.50 for roads, rising later to $12,036.00. County voter materials for the earlier Whole Cent campaign said groceries, medication and fuel would be exempt from the sales tax, only the first $5,000 of large tangible-personal-property purchases would be taxed, and a Citizens’ Oversight Committee would be created if the referendum passed. Those materials also said tourists and visitors would provide about 30% of annual revenue.

The county’s 2024 one-cent capital projects sales surtax failed by 52.2 percent, leaving commissioners to test whether voters will accept another tax bid to catch up with growth, or whether the county will have to keep stretching limited transportation dollars across too many worn roads.