St. Johns County has several ideas for how to spend its $15 million surplus. (SAR)

None of these ideas increases government accountability. Wonder why?

No police body cameras, no Ombuds, no Inspector General, no lobbying registration, no ethics ordinance. Wonder why?

Nothing addressing inequality of opportunity, or inequality of access to information. Wonder why?



By Sheldon Gardner
Posted at 5:07 PM
St. Augustine Record
November 1-2, 2019

St. Johns County has several ideas for how to spend its $15 million surplus.

County staff recently completed a list of recommendations, which include building a new park and library at 4625 State Road 16 to help fill a need for services in central parts of the county, such as the World Golf Village.

Other ideas including improving access to waterways, adding sidewalks and helping beach restoration in north Ponte Vedra Beach get off the ground.

But the County Commission gets to decide what to do with the money and whether to go with all or any of the recommendations from county staff.

That discussion is scheduled for the County Commission meeting on Tuesday at the St. Johns County auditorium. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m., but the surplus discussion is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Commission Chair Paul Waldron said he hopes people will attend and give their input on what the county should do with the money.

“It’s the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

The surplus is in the General Fund Reserves, which is budgeted to have $64.2 million this fiscal year, according to a county presentation created for Tuesday’s meeting. That’s $15 million more than what the county tries to have in those reserves.

People have already been weighing in on how to spend it.


North Ponte Vedra Beach residents asked commissioners to pitch in for beach restoration there.

An official from the Fort Mose Historical Society sought money for building a representation of the original fort, “the first legally sanctioned free African-American settlement in the United States.” The fort is no longer standing, but a historical center and state park are at the site near downtown St. Augustine.

City of St. Augustine Beach officials have asked for help making improvements to Ron Parker Memorial Recreational Park and crosswalks on A1A Beach Boulevard, among other things.

When county staff sat down to put together a proposal, they had been asked by commissioners to put together a list of recommended projects that would check a number of boxes for the county and take into account recent budget decisions, according to the presentation.

The county wanted to recommend projects that would reflect goals of county master plans or the Capital Improvement Plan, could use other funding sources, such as grants, impact fees or bed tax dollars; would “have broad community support and benefits”; and would take into account project operating costs.

County staff focused on underfunded categories. Things such as fire stations, affordable housing, road and drainage, reducing the county’s debt and deferred maintenance are being worked on, according to the county.

The following are the county’s recommendations with project costs.


– Villages Regional Park, $7.7 million. $5.7 million would come from the surplus, and $2 million would come from other funding.

– Villages Regional Library, $8.3 million. $4.8 would come from the surplus, and $3.5 million would come from other funding.

– Improving waterway access, $4.6 million. Up to $1 million would come from the budget surplus, and $3.6 million would come from the other funding.

– North Ponte Vedra Beach restoration. Up to $3 million would come from the surplus. The total cost of the project isn’t known.

– New sidewalks around the county, $500,000, which would all come from the surplus.

The library and park have “broad community support” and are listed as top priorities in the county’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan and Library Services Master Plan, according to the presentation. The library and park should ease pressure on other county facilities.

“There’s a gap in services,” county spokesman Michael Ryan said. “If you look at the map of the county and where we currently have libraries providing services, there is a need in the World Golf Village to fill in that gap.”


Grants and impact fee funds are available for both projects.

The waterway access improvements would focus on building new boat ramps at existing facilities, improving vehicle access and adding dock space for boats.

This effort could also be helped by grants.

The county is working on plans to charge fees for parking in certain county spaces and using county boat ramps. Revenue from those programs could help fund the waterway access plans, Ryan said.

For north Ponte Vedra Beach restoration, the county’s plan is to use surplus money to bring in grant money from the state and federal government to get the project done.

Other beach projects are already moving forward for Vilano and South Ponte Vedra beaches.

The sidewalk program would build new sidewalks across the county to make conditions safer for pedestrians. The plans include filling in gaps between residential areas and providing sidewalks near schools, parks and commercial areas.

Any project that gets board support would come back to the Commission individually for approval, according to the presentation. Preliminary engineering and updated cost estimates would also be necessary.