BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
The backlash to the approval of a new fire assessment fee has continued through Bradford County’s budget approval process, with calls for replacing commissioners and a state investigation into county spending.
While they cannot prevent hurt feelings, commissioners are speaking out about misinformation presented in recent meetings and online.
Commissioner Chris Dougherty said the county manager’s office is working on a more comprehensive response, but he mentioned “the $21,000 pizza party” accusation after a misreading of the county budget. The amount was not an expense at all but revenue from space leased to the CareerSource North Central Florida in the courthouse annex.
Pizza Hut is only mentioned in the budget because the county also rented that space before the restaurant moved and the county sold the building to the current owner. The blank line item remains in the revenue budget.
Dougherty countered another claim about how much money the county could have raised through impact fees to avoid a fire assessment, saying impact fees are a nonrecurring revenue source that only apply to new construction.
“The number that was brought up was a ridiculous number,” he said, of the $20 million claim. “I don’t think St. Johns County brings in that much money.”
Dougherty said when the public has questions, there is paid staff available to help them throughout the week, and they can even make an appointment meet with them alongside their commissioner.
To anyone dangling the threat of the Department of Government Efficiency coming to Bradford, Dougherty said he welcomes it.
“I’ll open the door for DOGE when they come,” he said. “We get audited every year, and we have clean audits every year, and I will stand there and open the door, and when they leave hear them say, ‘How do you do so much with so little?’”
It’s tough to operate as a fiscally constrained county, he said, when just like families cannot control the price of eggs, commissioners cannot control the price of fuel, materials or the cost of living.
“I think we’re doing a pretty good job,” he said.
To improve communication, Commissioner Carolyn Spooner has suggested the manager’s office use the county website and social media to share information. But she also suggested dissecting their largest departments and spending for professional services to see if there are things the county can live without. She added once the commission has a concrete idea of how much revenue will be raised by the fire assessment, then commissioners could begin looking at lowering the property tax rate.
Commissioner Diane Andrews agreed with efforts at better communication, but said people must learn to listen. Commissioner Danny Riddick was called a liar at a budget hearing when he said the county had not raised the tax rate.
“We did not raise the millage, and sometimes it gets very difficult to repeatedly explain when sometimes it’s almost like some people don’t want to know the truth,” she said. “I don’t mind interacting, but at the same time, I don’t want to be cussed out or yelled at and screamed at, and I think that we all have to act professionally when we’re trying to find answers to these problems.”
To combat the spread of misinformation, she agreed with Spooner they need to spend time trying to educate people.
“But at the same time, there has to be an element of trust that we’re telling the truth and not just lying for no reason,” she said.
Riddick thanked Andrews for sticking up for him.
“There’s some pretty hateful comments, you know. I’ll just tell you when people write that they hope that the whole board — I’ll just say it — burns in hell, I mean that’s pretty hateful,” he said.
“Anybody that’s called me and mentioned DOGE? I welcome DOGE. IF they could come here and show us how we can save money, don’t you think I’d be all for it?”
