While we believe Osceola County commissioners made the right decision Monday to let voters decide whether they want the county to collect a 1 percent sales surtax to fund road projects, we have some thoughts on the matter.

First, we wonder whether there is enough time before the Nov. 2 election for the county to adequately educate voters on the measure, which would set up funding for a number of road projects, all of which involve either expansions or extensions. Funding could not be used for Lynx or SunRail, nor could it be used for county road department operations or for road maintenance.

We also wonder whether a new sales tax would push people closer to or into financial ruin or convince them to shop in neighboring counties? The answer, of course, is yes. But to what extent, we can't predict. Any impact would be blunted by an improving economy, which isn't a sure thing.

On the positive side, having a dedicated source of funding for road projects could allow the county to do away with its traditional general fund subsidies for that purpose. That could have a two-tiered beneficial effect: It could free up money to support mass transit and it could allow the county next year to lower the millage rate.

The county eventually will have to fund its share of commuter rail, whether we want to or not. And if we don’t meet our obligations for this alternative mode of transportation, then the Florida Department of Transportation would use funds earmarked for road projects in the county for that purpose.

Another positive of the surtax would be that any road projects would require a high level of local vendor participation, which means most of the money spent would remain in the county as it passes through subcontractors. In addition, county officials estimate that up to 22 percent of the tax would be paid by tourists or others visiting the county.

If commissioners do raise the county millage rate to the level proposed, we worry that voters will see the surtax as just too expensive – especially in combination with higher fire fees – even though they may believe better roads are needed. It’s just that our residents and small businesses can’t absorb any more costs at this time.

In the end, we probably would vote against the tax with the hope that we could revisit the issue once we see where the economy is headed and commissioners see the impact of the higher property tax rates and the higher fire fees.