FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6.8.26
Is 20 years a long time to ask? Deutsch puts the sales tax term back on the table
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch has placed the proposed 20-year term of the county’s 1% local option sales tax back on the Board of County Commissioners agenda, after weeks of conversations, phone calls and emails from concerned residents, he is asking his colleagues to revisit the term based on weeks of steady feedback from residents.
The item is scheduled for the Board’s meeting on Tuesday, June 9, at the County Administration Center, 18500 Murdock Circle, Port Charlotte.
Deutsch’s move follows a sustained wave of phone calls and emails from constituents who questioned the length of the term the Board selected earlier this year. Deutsch, who prides himself in responding to residents who contact his office and said the volume and consistency of those concerns convinced him the 20 term deserved a second look in public, on the record.
“When so many neighbors take the time to call and write, my job is to listen and to act,” said Commissioner Deutsch.
“I try to answer every call and every email, because I believe the people of Charlotte County deserve a Commissioner who listens and hears them out. Putting this back on the agenda is doing exactly that- making sure their voices are part of the decision, not an afterthought.”
The 1% sales tax has funded local capital projects in Charlotte County since voters first approved it in 1994 and it has been renewed by voters several times. The current proposal would fund a slate of priority projects identified by a citizen advisory committee, including the more than $60 million replacement for the Charlotte County Cultural Center – a longtime community hub that closed in 2021 and was permanently shuttered after Hurricane Ian.
Supporters of the longer term have argued it allows the county to deliver those critical projects sooner and at a lower borrowing cost. That tension – between funding needed projects and asking residents to commit to a 20-year term – is exactly what Deutsch wants the Board to review.
A recent survey suggesting strong initial support for the longer term surprised many observers, given how much concern residents have voiced directly to the Commissioner.
Deutsch said the gap between that number and what he is hearing on the phone is one more reason to slow down and talk it through. “Nobody questions that the Cultural Center and our other projects matter- they do, and I have championed the Cultural Center for years,”
Deutsch said. “The question is whether a 20-year commitment is the right way to get there, and that is a conversation the public has earned the right to have.
I would rather take the time to get the term right than rush it and lose the community’s support”.
Residents are encouraged to attend Tuesday’s meeting and share their views with Commissioner Deutsch and his colleagues directly. The Board of County Commissioners meeting is open to the public and time will be available for public comment at the beginning of the meeting.
CONTACT:
Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch
(941) 830-5585
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Paid for by Commissioner Stephen R. Deutsch, Republican Charlotte County Commissioner, District 4.
Disclaimer: CCREC does not endorse any candidates.