FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Broward County residents could pay a penny per dollar more in sales taxes if an item is approved on the November ballot.
The County Commission first has to vote to put the item on the ballot for voters' approval before the tax could go into effect.
Commissioner Tim Ryan has long supported the item as way to improve the county's public transportation.
"When you have a discussion of a matter that is likely in the neighborhood of $12 billion over 30 years, there's certainly a lot of anxiety and there's a lot of interest and there's a lot of needs that need to be addressed," Ryan said.
Area sales tax rates:
Broward County: 6 percent
Palm Beach County: 6 percent (proposal to raise to 7 percent)
Martin County: 6 percent
Miami-Dade County: 7 percent
Monroe County: 7.5 percent
A penny tax could generate an extra hundreds of million dollars a year.
Some residents complain that a rate increase isn't fair to those living on fixed incomes.
"It's actually a 17 percent raise. That's what it is," Davie resident Arthur Joseph told commissioners. "It's a 17 percent raise to a six-cent on the dollar."
The money would be spilt with Broward County municipalities, which would receive 60 percent, while 40 percent would go to the county.