A Cocoa Beach city commissioner wants voters to approve a tax hike to pay for a new city hall and police station.
- Tax hike would pay for new City Hall and police station
- Commissioner Skip Williams to propose the ballot measure Thursday
- Officials say City Hall and the police station need to be replaced
Commissioner Skip Williams will propose the ballot measure at Thursday’s city commission meeting.
The city estimates a new city hall and police station would cost upwards of $15.5 million.
Williams says by this summer, the city will have a better idea of how much money it has for the project and how much they’ll need to ask voters to approve.
"Personally, I don't think with all these election cycles, I don't think that the commission is willing to step up and make that increment of millage increase to cover this on their own," said Williams.
Williams says the current city hall and police station are beyond economic repair and are in imminent need of replacement.
The city’s marketing and economic development director, Melissa Byron has experienced three floods in her office. She decided to move to another room in city hall.
“A building this age, you don't have any idea when a pipe might fail, and that's what's happened to us, this is the third time,” said Byron.
Besides pipes bursting, the city hall-police station, built in the 1960s has exposed wiring and plenty of cracked floors, not to mention water stains on the carpets.
"There's a cost benefit in the long term that supports replacement of city hall and police department versus continuing to fund the repairs and maintenance," said Williams.
A millage rate increase would impact property taxes, but Williams says it wouldn’t be a substantial increase.
He’ll propose his ballot measure at the Thursday city commission meeting at 7 p.m.