NAGC Communications School

In 2016, the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners added an amendment to the November ballot asking residents to consider a half-cent sales tax increase to create an annual revenue stream of roughly $18 million for the county and its two cities (Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce) to use for capital infrastructure projects. This measure failed because only 46 percent of the voters supported the measure. Two years later, the County teamed up with key staff members from the two cities to launch an aggressive educational campaign focused on another half-cent sales tax ballot amendment – this time it was approved by 56 percent of the voters. Learn how St. Lucie County and Port St. Lucie accomplished this on a limited budget and without a political action group, ushering in a decade of progress on long-anticipated, transformative projects for all agencies.