Monitor Editor
GREEN COVE SPRINGS— County Commissioner Betsy Condon was the only Clay County Commissioner to vote against a half-mil, 10.8% property tax increase during a Sept. 14 meeting.
Condon said that contrary to popular opinion, the entire tax increase is not for law enforcement and fire-rescue salaries.
“If the entire millage increase were for public safety, I would have a very different standpoint on this,” she said.
“The entire half-mil increase is not for public safety,” she said. “It’s just not.”
Condon added that during the budget process, she asked county staff to propose spending cuts that would offset increases to first responder salaries. She added that she only got one response from the sheriff’s office.
“I didn’t hear anything from our county staff on how we can cut some expenses someplace, and so that’s what I was waiting for,” she said.
Budget increases and decreases
Forty-four percent of the millage increase is allocated to the county’s law enforcement taxing unit, while 56% of the increase is earmarked for general county services and for services to the unincorporated areas of the county.
The proposed millage contains no increase to the county’s taxing unit designated for fire rescue.
However, the county’s budget does include a $2.5 million increase for rescue services.
That was a point Commissioner Wayne Bolla made to County Manager Howard Wanamaker.
“In the future I’d like to see the funds that are directed toward running the sheriff’s office and the funds that are directed toward running the fire department and rescue units be concentrated in these two areas, if possible,” he said of the law enforcement and fire control taxing districts, “so that the public, when they get their tax bill, they’ll look at that and they’ll know this is where the money’s going.”
The largest increases to the county’s proposed budget for the 2021-2022 year are $5.9 million for the sheriff’s office, $2.6 million for the county’s engineering department, $2.5 million for rescue services, $1.9 million for detention, $1.6 million for parks and recreation administration, $1.3 million for fleet and fuel management and $1 million for the MIS Department.
The budget also proposes cuts of $804,251 to court facilities, $769,147 for the Building Department, $727,941 for the State Housing Initiative Program, $382,367 for retrofitting schools as hurricane shelters, $320,334 to the Office of Management of Budget, $294,434 for mosquito control and $228,000 for juvenile detention.
Sheriff’s Lobbying
All but one of the 12 speakers during a public hearing said they supported the tax increase. Many of them used statistics previously presented by Sheriff Michelle Cook in presentations to the public.
Commissioner Wayne Bolla complemented the sheriff on her political effectiveness.
“I just want to say I got a lot of email on this,” he said. “The sheriff did a very effective job rallying the community to the need,
and I didn’t get one single email telling me to defund the police.”
“I don’t look in the rearview mirror,” he continued. “I look at where we’re headed, and right now we’re not headed to a great place without some significant change, so I think this is a change in the right direction. I certainly support the millage as we presented it tonight.”
Condon said that many residents who do not support the millage increase are afraid to speak out because they fear being targeted. She added that one person threatened her on the county’s Facebook page.
Condon also said she was offended by Bolla’s use of the phrase : “defund the police.”
“I resent the insinuation that if I don’t support a tax increase that I support defunding the police,” she said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The Lake Region commissioner said that many of the emails she received supporting the tax increase were nearly identical, indicating an organized lobbying effort.
“I’ve gotten a lot of emails,” she said, “(many) not even from Clay County. The texts of the emails are all the same. I do appreciate the emails and the phone calls that have been direct conversations, (but) not the form letter.”
Condon also called out fellow commissioner Kristen Burke who was elected last year on a pledge not to raise taxes.
“Commissioner Burke: You said it. You ran on a promise not to raise taxes,” Condon said. “So did I. So did probably all of us who claim to be Republicans or conservatives.”
Lottery tickets or prescriptions
Commission Chair Mike Cella told two stories of how fire-rescue and the sheriff’s office helped his family and friends.
He added that he supports the millage increase and that the small amount of additional taxes will result in little more than an inconvenience to him and his family.
“My daughter, she can’t take the kids out to the trampoline park an extra time during the month because (her property taxes are) going to cost her a little bit more,” he said. “And you know, my wife won’t be able to buy as many scratch-off lottery tickets because we have to put out a little bit more.”
However, Condon said 65% of the residents in her district are over the age of 62 and are on fixed incomes.
“It’s not just about deciding whether I’m going to go out to eat,” she said of the impact of the millage increase. “For a lot of the residents of District 4, it’s deciding if they’re going to get that prescription, because a lot of our residents, especially in the Keystone Heights-area, are on that type of a budget.”
