Broward leaders need to better inform of transportation surtax

Back in 2018, I urged the defeat of the proposed surtax that sought to add one penny to our Broward County sales taxes to fund undetermined projects (i.e. a blank check) by undetermined individuals (i.e. a Surtax Oversight Board). The residents of Broward County were gullible and bought the hype hook, line and sinker and saddled themselves with higher sales taxes for the next 30 years. In Oct. 2020, I asked that our county leaders answer five very basic questions:

1. How much has been collected since the tax took effect on January 1, 2019;

2. How much money has the county received from the Department of Revenue since the distributions began in March 2019;

3. What projects have been funded to date;

4. What projects have been completed; and

5. How has all the tax money been spent. Not a single county leader or administrator has responded. Drive east or west on Sunrise Boulevard between I-95 and the beach and see how poorly synchronized traffic lights are the sole cause of terrible congestion, backups and pollution. How difficult or expensive would it be to fix this problem with the hundreds of millions in tax revenue already collected from this poorly conceived, public-relations-driven money grab? This is but one example of the many transportation problems we endure as we welcome more and more buildings, hotels and residents to our county, and especially to the city of Fort Lauderdale. Residents, demand that these five very simplistic questions be answered now and demand that easy and common-sense projects be completed before the next election cycle. [ed. note: These questions are answered in broad strokes at the tax oversight board’s website, broward.org/PennyForTransportation, but in-depth information isn’t as readily available.]

Howard A. Tescher, Fort Lauderdale