News Politics

Penny Tax Funds $3.94 Million for Infrastructure Upgrades in Coral Springs

by Guest Contributor May 21, 2020

by Guest Contributor May 21, 2020 39 views

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By Hank McCoy

The Penny for Transportation initiative residents voted for in 2018 has begun to payout for Coral Springs.

The commission approved the recommendation put forward for Cycle 1 of the Broward Prioritized Capital Projects. Of the 116 projects that were recommended by the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Coral Springs had four projects recommended to them.

Recommendations for the city of Coral Springs were approved unanimously by the commission, which focused on funding for projects that require construction, design, and planning.

The four projects approved consisted of the construction of emergency traffic signals at firehouses #71 at 11800 NW 41st Street and #80 at 2825 Coral Springs Dr., design for bus shelter replacement, and two planning recommendations for new construction of sidewalks.

The city has estimated the cost for these projects lands just over $1.74 million.

“So this is just for one year, then we’ll begin discussions with the MPO and the county regarding the next five years of the plan,” said Paul Carpenter, transportation planner. “Then we’ll have more certainty as to what’s going to happen over the next few years. Whether it’s planning, more design, or whether it’s construction, at the end of the process, we should have a lot of construction that we’re doing.”

Funding for the Broward Prioritized Capital Projects is through a 1 percent sales surtax that Broward County residents voted on to upgrade public transportation and infrastructure throughout the state in 2018.

Because Broward County is a “donor” county, much like the state of New York in regards to federal taxes, Broward’s tax dollars often don’t stay within the community.

The Capital Projects would bring in more revenue to the county so city and local governments can utilize the tax revenue to fund projects like the ones recommended and approved by the Coral Springs City Commission.

As part of the Capital Surtax proceeds, funding leftover from Cycle 1’s design, construction, and planning section will be put towards Rehabilitation and Maintenance Projects (R&M).

There were a total of 203 projects identified by Broward County for the R&M, and two were submitted on behalf of Coral Springs. The city wants to do some road resurfacing as well as alleyway resurfacing. The total amount for R&M submitted to the county is just over $2.2 million in rehabilitation and maintenance.

The commission also voted to approve the reallocation of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) federal funding of $25,500 that wasn’t on the city’s action plans last year.

In the spirit of community construction and rehabilitation, the commission approved the reallocation, which would go towards further engineering, design, and planning of sidewalk replacements in several locations around the city.

While the City of Coral Springs moves to reopen businesses, the funding would be a helpful shot in the arm to jobs and commerce in the city.