ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The public information sessions are over, but the online survey remains open for people to leave feedback as Orange County leaders still want to know how shoppers and drivers would feel about paying a penny more in sales tax to fund some transportation upgrades.

On Monday night, Mayor Jerry Demings acknowledged the low survey turnout so far. He has been advocating for the sales tax hike to fund $600 million in travel improvements across the county.

Orange County reports 43,050 people took the survey, as of Monday evening. Demings does not seem discouraged.

“So, we’ll spend some time riding the buses and making sure that we’re talking to that constituency group,” he remarked on the “work in progress” he feels his proposal is.

The transportation projects cover a lengthy list of upgrades and adjustments to things like Lynx and SunRail. While most feedback in surveys has come from the Winter Garden and Waterford Lakes areas, Demings says more efforts will be made to solicit responses from people in areas like Parramore.

His ultimate goal is to get county commissioners to put the question of the sales tax hike on the November ballot; then, he needs 50% of voters in the county electorate, plus one person, in order to pass it.

“Generally speaking at this point the feedback we received is above that level,” Demings said Monday. “But we have a long way to go."

“We have a lot of runway in front of us to get to November, so we still will need to continue to educate. And not everybody is going to support it. We will see some partisan groups that will not support it for whatever reasons, but we will overcome it because I believe the timing is right."

It’s something he feels good about, based on the responses he has seen so far.