In a special election yesterday Santa Rosa County voters defeated a half-cent sales tax increase with about 67% of voters rejecting the increase. The proposed penny tax would have replaced the half-cent sales tax that voters last approved in 2016, raising the sales tax from 7% to 7.5%. In 2016 voters approved a half-cent sales tax for infrastructure improvements, which has generated about 13 million dollars in revenue for the county so far. The county said if the penny tax passed, it would have generated180 million dollars over the next 10 years to pay for local capital improvements and infrastructure needs. All five County Commissioners supported the penny tax