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Commissioners approve reimbursement of non‑surtax staff hours on surtax projects
Summary
Okaloosa County authorized reimbursing general‑fund staff for hours spent working on surtax projects, allowing the county to account for surtax project costs without hiring additional full‑time surtax staff.
Okaloosa County commissioners on Sept. 2 approved a plan to reimburse non‑surtax funded, in‑house staff for labor hours spent on surtax projects, a change staff said will better align project accounting with revenues and accelerate delivery of surtax‑funded work.
Scott Bitterman, interim public works director, said compressing the surtax project schedule to complete projects earlier has increased the percentage of staff time devoted to surtax work. He noted that one design engineer spends about 90% of his time on surtax projects and the engineering manager spends about 75%. Rather than recruit a separate surtax workforce, staff proposed an annual reimbursement from surtax reserves of about $400,000 to cover in‑house labor allocated to surtax projects.
County staff said the county attorney had verified the use as allowable under state statute and county ordinance, and the surtax advisory committee recommended the approach at its August meeting. Commissioners discussed that the reimbursement better attributes project costs to sales tax revenue rather than the general fund, which some commissioners said shifts a portion of costs to visitors who generate surtax receipts.
The board approved the reimbursement by unanimous vote. Staff said the accounting change will be implemented so surtax projects are charged for the staff time they consume and to maintain momentum on project delivery.
