It’s clear Orange County has a tangled transportation network. It’s also clear the community is not wild about a higher sales tax.

County voters, after all, defeated a proposed one-percent sales tax hike in 2022 that would have raised money for transportation projects.

But Commissioner Nicole Wilson now thinks the board should consider putting a different kind of sales tax on the ballot. Some funds would be used for land acquisition and conservation — issues that county voters have generally supported — and some would be set aside for infrastructure. Infrastructure would include transportation-related projects.

Commissioners have not decided whether to put a measure on the ballot or how large it would be, if they do proceed. They’ve kicked around two possibilities: a penny-per-dollar sales tax increase and a half-cent-per-dollar hike. The board must decide by May 7 if it wants to proceed, so there is time for state authorities to study the proposal before it appears on the November ballot.

“This initiative aims to enhance public parks, conservation areas and essential infrastructure while ensuring long-term ecological sustainability and community resilience,” the two-term commissioner said in a memo to Mayor Jerry Demings and fellow board members.

Commissioners on Monday took public comment, listened to county staff and discussed Wilson’s proposal.

Wearing a red Make America Great Again ballcap, Winter Garden resident Gregg Jones said he opposes any tax increase.

“We spend, spend, spend, and tax, tax, tax,” said Jones, reminding county officials of the transportation tax’s stinging defeat.

But Wilson, whose west Orange district includes Disney and the fast-growing development Horizon West, said she hoped to pattern the issue after Alachua County’s successful Wild Places and Public Spaces referendum.

Alachua voters bumped their sales tax from half-a-penny to a penny-per-taxable-dollar levy, which can pay for a variety of things, including parks and infrastructure.

“A dedicated infrastructure surtax would provide an opportunity for Orange County to secure a sustainable funding source for conservation and public infrastructure without overburdening property owners,” Wilson said in the missive that led to a board discussion.

An earlier board discussion, held six weeks ago, was led by Pegreen Hanrahan, a former Gainesville mayor who works for the not-for-profit Trust for Public Lands that has helped communities across the U.S. persuade voters to pass nearly 700 ballot measures for land trusts and parks since 1996.

Hanrahan returned Monday to outline research by her group.

She said a penny-per-dollar increase would raise about $758.6 million a year, a staggering figure she attributed to the millions of tourists who come to the county to vacation at theme parks. Hanrahan said tourists and out-of-county shoppers would shoulder most of the tax burden.

In her previous appearance before the board, Hanrahan said while the national discourse has become more divisive in recent years, “people across the nation are going to the ballot and saying we want to protect our community, we want to take action to save land, to create parks and fund basic infrastructure.”

The Trust for Public Land hasn’t lost a ballot measure in two years — going six for six in 2025 and 23 for 23 in 2024, she added.

Demings stumped for the tax in 2022, insisting a dedicated funding source was essential to create a healthy transit system. But in 2024, he still heard a lot of opposition at community meetings he held to gauge support for a do-over. Audiences were  sometimes combative with some attendees visibly annoyed at the push to put the issue on the ballot, just two years after a resounding no.

Monday, Demings said the board’s decision on Wilson’s proposal comes at a challenging time with the nation at war and the Florida Legislature mulling eliminating property taxes, the main source of county revenue.

“We have to take into consideration everything that may be before us,” he said. “We’re not sure what will happen there, and then other dynamics of what will be going on in the world and the nation and the state around us will have to be taken into consideration.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com