An Osceola judge said Friday the sales tax referendum that appears on Osceola County voters’ ballots in this election will remain there to be voted on this week.
Judge Robert Egan denied an injunctive lawsuit, which asked the courts to take the referendum off the ballot. State Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R-Clermont) filed it on behalf of a group of Osceola voters. In the 23-page “emergency complaint for declarative and injunctive relief,” Sabatini claimed that since the surtax is labeled as “one-cent” instead of “one percent,” it is misleading to voters.
“By using the term ‘cent,’ (the ordinance) conveys to voters the impression that the tax increase is less than it materially is by not disclosing the rate of the tax,” a part of the lawsuit states. “There is no cogent reason for a local government to use the term “cent” as opposed to “percent” other than in an attempt to lessen the impression of the tax increase in the mind of the voter … This deceptive, purposeful ambiguity is a clear violation of Florida Statute.”
But Egan, at the Friday hearing, denied that there is an emergency to pull it off the ballot at the 11th hour.
The ballot initiative would extend a 1% sales tax surtax that has been collected since voters in the 1990s approved it. That vote bumped up Osceola's sales tax from 6 to 7%. That extra percent is split among Osceola County (50%), the Osceola County School District (25%), with the remaining divvied up between the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud, all to use on public infrastructure projects. In 2016, voters approved another half-percent for the school district that put Osceola's sales tax rate at 7.5%
If a majority of the county votes ‘No’ on the referendum Tuesday, the surtax will sunset in 2025. A majority ‘Yes’ vote will maintain the local sales tax at 7.5%, and extend the surtax through 2045.
A similar referendum on the ballot in Orange County, which would add to its sales tax, calls it “a surtax at the rate of one percent.” Coincidentally, a judge last week ruled against another Orange County referendum proposing controlling the rate of rent increases. Since ballots were already printed and early voting had already started, the courts said the vote results would not be certified after the Nov. 8 election date.
Had Judge Egan allowed the injunction, Osceola County would have been in the same boat, as mail-in ballots went out in late September, and voters had been voting in-person at early voting since Oct. 24.
