CRESTVIEW — Leaders from chambers of commerce across Okaloosa County appeared before county commissioners this week to urge placing a renewal of the county’s half-cent surtax on the November 2026 ballot, arguing that the tax has delivered millions in infrastructure improvements and leveraged significant outside funding.
Gordon King, chairman of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, addressed commissioners with a presentation outlining what he called the surtax’s measurable successes since voters first approved it in 2018.
“It’s an honor to be before you today,” King said, appearing with several chamber and business leaders. He noted that the Chamber of Commerce “would like to ask for your consideration” in renewing the tax for an additional 10 years beginning in 2029.
King highlighted more than $136 million raised through the surtax to date, which he said allowed the county to secure over $279 million in matching grants.
“Taking that money, going out and receiving grants, you’ve actually leveraged that hundreds $36 million [and] turned it into $279 million,” he said.
King pointed to road paving and stabilization efforts, stormwater and environmental projects, and a countywide emergency communications system as evidence of the surtax’s impact. Without the tax, King said, many of these improvements “probably would not have been done.”
King also emphasized that “more than 56% of those tax dollars have come from the tourists that visit Okaloosa County,” easing the burden on local residents. He said generating the same revenue through property taxes would require “increasing property taxes 19%, we know that probably would not have happened.”
