Polk County Sales Tax Swap Plan Heads To FAC Vote
Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell’s plan to trade the county’s half-cent indigent health care sales tax for a full penny infrastructure surtax goes before the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) this week, and the version he sent to Tallahassee asks for more taxing authority than the public plan describes.
Braswell said in an interview Tuesday with The Citrus Tea News that Polk submitted a proposal to the association, the lobbying arm for Florida’s 67 county commissions, and that the submitted version sought a 1.5-cent limit rather than the 1 percent surtax laid out in his August policy white paper. He described the higher figure as deliberate. The Citrus Tea News obtained a copy of the outlined proposal at the end of this article for readers to review.
“What we said to them was a little more aggressive than what I’ve suggested, with the idea that we’ll have to give something up. There’s some room to kind of bargain with that.” – Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell
FAC meets in Jacksonville This Week
The association’s Innovation and Policy Conference runs Wednesday and Thursday at the Hilton Jacksonville at Mayo Clinic in Duval County. Under a format the association adopted this year, all seven standing policy committees will meet in a single Policy Coordination Forum on Thursday morning, where committee chairs introduce the proposals counties submitted by the September 2 deadline. No votes are taken at that session. A separate Property Tax Forum follows Thursday afternoon to identify advocacy priorities for the 2027 legislative session.
Final action comes at the association’s Legislative Conference, scheduled for December 2 through 4 at the Sawgrass Marriott in St. Johns County, where the membership votes to adopt the policies the association will carry to the Legislature. Braswell is not attending this week’s conference.
The timing places the proposal in front of other counties one day before it would face any vote, and three weeks before Florida voters decide Amendment 3, the constitutional measure raising the homestead exemption. Braswell said Polk should proceed either way.
“What I’m suggesting, I think we should do whether Amendment 3 passes or not,” he said. “There’s no reason not to.”
How The “Swap” Would Work
The plan centers on a trade. The existing half-cent surtax funds the Polk HealthCare Plan, the county’s indigent care program, and has been in place since voters approved it in 2004 and renewed it in 2016.
Braswell’s plan would terminate that levy on December 31, 2027, and begin a 1 percent infrastructure surtax on January 1, 2028, with the county then reducing its property tax levy the following year by the amount of surtax it actually collected.
Braswell said the penny would raise roughly $180 million a year and that the figure closely tracks what Polk County and its 17 cities stand to lose under Amendment 3.
Watch highlights of the August 14, 2026 Agenda Review meeting below.
The Polk County Health Care Fund
Braswell said the county has collected far more indigent care money than it has spent. More than $200 million accumulated in the fund, he said, and he pressed county administration three years ago to spend it down.
“I went to Bill Beasley three years ago, and I’m like, we’re not a bank,” Braswell said. “Spend it.”
That money built 17 health centers, he said, and because the construction is largely finished, future costs are operating costs rather than capital costs. He estimated the ongoing need at closer to $10 million a year.
Braswell said the program is not going away under his plan. Instead, a defined share of the new surtax would fund what he would call a health care portion rather than an indigent care portion, and it would absorb inmate medical costs currently carried by the county sheriff’s office. He put that figure at roughly $12 million a year.
He also disputed the county’s own figure for how many residents the program serves. County health officials have cited 86,000 people covered. Braswell said about 6,000 people are actually enrolled in the Polk HealthCare Plan and that the larger number counts one-time contacts, such as a single vaccination, as individuals served.
“Numbers lie,” he said.
The county has raised eligibility for the program twice, most recently in July, when commissioners lifted the income threshold to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. Enrollment has not followed.
“People aren’t signing up,” Braswell said. “I don’t think people really know about it.”
Two Pieces to Figure Out
The first is the legal mechanism for delivering property tax relief. Braswell said the county cannot simply zero out its millage rate because the rate applies to businesses and other property as well as homesteads.
“We’re going to have to come up with a mechanism to basically say, homeowners, you get a rebate,” he said. “I don’t know.”
The second is how the money would be divided with the cities. State law directs infrastructure surtax proceeds to be shared either under an interlocal agreement or, absent one, under a population-based formula in state statute. Braswell said he would rather tie each city’s share to the property tax revenue that city gives up.
“Let’s just do a dollar for dollar,” he said. “You reduce property taxes a million, you’ll get a million out of the sales. You’re made whole.”
Legislative Changes Needed
Infrastructure surtax money can be spent only on capital projects with a useful life of at least five years. It cannot pay salaries or operating costs. Braswell wants that changed, with parks and recreation named specifically.
“As it’s written right now, we could not put it toward parks,” he said. “So why not let us continue to operate essential services?”
The Argument Against the Sales Tax Plan
Asked what the strongest argument against his plan would be, Braswell pointed to the trade itself.
“People will come back and go; you’re just taxing me in a different form,” he said.
He argued the math favors the taxpayer, using an example of a home assessed at $185,000 with a $50,000 exemption paying about $1,000 a year in county property tax. He estimates that the same household would pay between $40 and $50 a year through the sales tax, and really half of that amount in new money because the existing half cent is already being paid. He said most residents spend a large part of their income on groceries or a mortgage, which carry no sales tax. Braswell said he generated part of that estimate using the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT.
Florida’s discretionary sales surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of a single item of tangible personal property, and mortgage payments, groceries and other major household expenses are not subject to sales tax at all.
“It’s the math,” Braswell said. “Understanding the math is going to be the biggest hurdle.”
Read the Sales Tax Plan Document below. This document was obtained by The Citrus Tea News on Sept. 8, 2026, and may not be the most current version. The plan sent to the FAC was a larger and more detailed plan packet, according to Commissioner Braswell.
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FAQs
What is the Polk County sales tax swap plan?
It is a proposal from County Commissioner Bill Braswell to end the county’s half-cent indigent health care sales tax and replace it with a 1 percent infrastructure surtax, then reduce the county property tax levy by the amount of surtax collected the prior year.
When would the new sales tax start?
Braswell’s plan targets ending the half-cent indigent care surtax on December 31, 2027, and starting the 1 percent surtax on January 1, 2028.
Does the plan end the Polk HealthCare Plan?
No. Braswell said a defined share of the new surtax would fund health care and also absorb inmate medical costs he estimated at roughly $12 million a year, moving it out of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) budget.
How many people are enrolled in the Polk HealthCare Plan?
Braswell said about 6,000 people are enrolled. He disputed the county figure of 86,000 covered, saying that number counts one-time contacts such as a single vaccination as individuals served.
When does the Florida Association of Counties vote on the proposal?
Committee chairs introduce submitted proposals Thursday in Jacksonville with no votes taken. The membership votes to adopt final policies at the Legislative Conference December 2 through 4 in St. Johns County.
Disclaimer: The Citrus Tea News is an unbiased news outlet. We do not tell anyone how to vote and we do our best to provide information that helps our readers decide for themselves.
Sources: Polk County Infrastructure and Property Tax Reform Plan, Polk County, August 7, 2026; interview with Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell, Sept. 15, 2026; 2026 Innovation & Policy Agenda, Florida Association of Counties, fl-counties.com; 2026 Policy Proposal Submission, Florida Association of Counties, fl-counties.com; Conferences, Florida Association of Counties, fl-counties.com; Florida Statutes §212.055; Florida Statutes §218.62
