Collier commissioners approve $44M in sales surtax funding

Five projects, including a new jury room and the Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, will receive the remaining $44 million in salestax infrastructure funds approved by voters in 2018.  

Although the projects exceed the current sales surtax infrastructure fund revenues, county officials expect that additional interest will be generated over time. The full estimated cost of the projects is $46.95 million. 

The Board of County Commissioners on July 8 approved a spend-down plan recommended last month by the county’s Surtax Citizen Oversite Committee. Each project will be validated by the committee and county commissioners. 

County voters approved the 1-cent infrastructure sales surtax referendum in 2018 to pay for 18 authorized infrastructure projects, including $20 million for affordable housing. Collier County receives 91.2% of the tax and the rest is divided between the cities of Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City. The tax ended Dec. 31, 2023, two years earlier than expected, after collecting $520.9 million, plus $20.2 million in interest, but both cities have asked that it be considered again. 

The surtax has been used for projects that include Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park, the pending Veterans Affairs nursing home, a new sheriff’s forensics building, the upcoming Collier County Behavioral Health Center, bridge replacements and road improvements. 

The projects dividing the remaining funds are: 

• Greater Naples Fire Rescue District’s Station 21 land purchase, $1.25 million 

• Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, an additional $27.2 million 

• Government Complex chiller water line replacement, $15 million 

• County Courthouse jury room expansion, $2 million 

• Main county jail remaining roof repairs and repairs to mechanical louver walls, $2.5 million 

Station 21 in East Naples, 11121 Tamiami Trail E., is old and is nearing the end of its useful life, while the area it serves has continued growing, according to a memo by John Dunnuck, the county’s executive director of Facilities and Community Redevelopment Areas. 

The county will purchase an adjacent parcel, 11103 Tamiami Trail E., to allow construction on the new site without interrupting station operations. The roughly half-acre $1.25 million land transaction — the appraised value — is set to close this month and the surtax will reimburse the county’s general fund.  

County officials already set aside money for a line of credit to bond 25 years’ worth of funding to finish the 7-mile, $100million Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, from Collier Boulevard to 16th Street NE. “With this extra interest income, we will actually save the county $15 million in interest payments to have available as part of that project,” Dunnuck said. 

Construction has been done in phases, with some sections completed, and overall completion is expected by next summer. 

A courtroom and jury room expansion have been pending for more than five years. Two courtrooms are now undergoing expansion, but there’s no jury space, which is necessary. County officials plan to finish that project simultaneously with the courtrooms. Moving the jury space to the sixth floor will open up opportunities to reallocate space on the fifth floor. 

At the jail, $1.5 million will go toward the third phase of a roof replacement, while the remaining $1 million will go toward repairs on the north and south mechanical louver walls. County officials say the high-priority project will preserve the jail’s integrity and security. Two other sections of roofing were replaced in the past two years, and the remaining roof and louvers will protect the jail from water intrusion and degradation. 

The $15 million for the chiller plant will finish what voters asked for during the referendum, Dunnuck said, finishing building lines underground to create redundancy on the county campus — creating a backup system that can take over if the primary system fails. Dunnuck noted some chiller lines currently don’t work in a circular pattern.