Sumter County commissioners vote to place 5th- and 6th-cent fuel tax renewal on Nov. 3 ballot after public questions about road funding

County Administrator Arnold told the Sumter County Board of County Commissioners on March 10 that the proposed placement of a renewal of the 5th- and 6th-cent local-option fuel tax on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot would neither raise the rate nor create a new tax but would reaffirm an existing revenue source that generates about $2.8 million a year for roads.

"This particular revenue source is one of the essential revenue sources that focuses solely on roads," Arnold said, adding the funds are used for grant matches, debt service and both capital and operational work. He explained state law requires a split in use between capital and operations and that some of the revenue is allocated to cities based on state population estimates.

The board then heard about a half-hour of public comment from residents who urged clearer accounting of how road funds are used and called for more work on rural roads. Ross Justice, who described himself as a Sumter County resident and founder of Florida United Convoy, urged the board to be transparent about proposed road projects and questioned whether a proposed expansion of County Road 543 could require homeowners to give up up to 26 feet of property. "If that is the case, the people of Sumter County deserve transparency and they deserve to hear it directly from the commissioners," Justice said.

Resident Michael Squire asked whether the county still uses a "pay-to-play" or road-concurrency model; Arnold replied that those state-era concurrency tools largely were removed by changes in state law and that the county instead relies on road impact fees, fuel-tax revenue and dedicated general-fund allocations to address capacity and maintenance needs. "Road impact fees are targeted towards capacity improvements," Arnold said, while fuel-tax funds can be used for maintenance and match grant funding.

Arnold told the board the county publishes capital-improvement-plan materials and maps and will post a more detailed breakdown before a March 17 workshop. He added that the county had allocated additional general-fund dollars in recent budgets specifically to address roads and that the loss of the fuel-tax renewal would reduce available road funding by roughly $2.8 million annually.

Commissioner Butterfield moved to place the renewal on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

The board did not set a campaign position; the resolution approved only authorizes placement of the renewal question on the ballot. Staff said more detail on how fuel-tax revenues are distributed and how projects are prioritized will be provided at the March 17 workshop and in published budget documents.