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Commissioners regarding the 1-percent sales tax referendum.
Posted to Subscribers of St. Johns County
Henry, I know this is hard to understand but let me say it as simply as possible, Stop the growth, no more developments, no more funding for developments of anything, of any kind, ever, for ten years. We will save 500 million! Then we can proceed to grow again. Stop tax and spend, stop it! VOTE NO ON NEW TAXES!! Thanks for the letter, it only serves to clarify why we need NO MORE DEVELOPMENT FOR 10 YEARS!
3 days ago
Tommy Prothrow
Tommy
3 days ago
@Dylan
2 days ago
Michelle B.
1d
Richey Esbin
1 day ago
Tommy Prothrow
1 day ago
We have already lost our wonderful little town, due to build,build,build, You should have thought of all this before bringing all this on this little town. The houses being built are overpriced and because of that the people who've caused all this want us to pay for the mess they've created. NO
3 days ago
William
1 day ago
We are not at a crossroads here!
STOP THE GROWTH! You've put the cart before the horse and now expect us to pay. You built it so they will come and want the locals to pay for it. This is the county's problem, not the citizens. If the fees weren't high enough for the developers to develop then it should not have been approved. Get your heads out of your behinds and look at the whole picture and say "can my county support this?".
Trying to ask for forgiveness instead of permission will backfire.
3 days ago
Henry does not seem to know the difference between informing and threatening. The county will do just fine without you and your tax. VOTE NO!!
3 days ago
@Mokhtar does appear to be ultimatum and honestly it is picking between the lesser of 2 evils.
3 days ago
Mokhtar I kind of got that out of his letter also. I read it a couple times, I will be damned if I would vote to let these men and women blow another $500 million. They need to figure it out and if the fees from developers are not enough than no more development or as in regular political fashion they can rename the fees and make what they have work. This comes under the heading not my problem and I am voting no.
1 day ago
Major typo in that first paragraph… Nobody proposed a 1 percent sales tax increase (as written). It’s 1 cent on the dollar, which amounts to right at 15% increase. I’m quite sure that was not an accident.
3 days ago
Patti Walker
3 days ago
Patti Walker
3 days ago
Maybe there ought to be a law against politicians mischaracterizing sales tax increases. Pols minimize the tax hit by calling it a one-penny, or 1 percent increase, and the news media (admittedly the vast majority of them are very bad at math) plays along. An increase in the sales tax rate from 6.5% to 7.5% is a 15.4 percent increase. That's the number that really matters. Under the current rate, your sales tax on a $500 purchase would be $32.50. Under the sales tax hike, it would be $37.50, or 15.4% more. (An actual 1 percent increase in the sales tax would lift it from 6.5 cents on the dollar to 6.565 cents.)
2 days ago
Donnie
2 days ago
And furthermore, the current allocation to St. John’s is .5 of the 6.5 rate so an increase of 1 cent / .5 cent is actually a 200% increase. With inflation being as high as it is, this is poor timing to request such an increase. Most developers get major tax breaks and as such, communities often find themselves in this same situation where the residents pay for growth as developers line their pockets. Add to that the fact we need more private sector investments to help with more creature comfort’s… expect only that any additional tax collections will go towards helping fund deals to increase more businesses to build to bring more jobs and goods to generate more taxes. It’s basic economics. Lose lose for people- unless you want this small town to turn into Jacksonville .
2 days ago
Patti
1 day ago
I am absolutely for growth but not for paying to grow. We're all creatures of incentive and consciously or subconsciously asking, WIIFM (whats in in for me?). Will I reap the benefit of thousands of dollars spent? More crowded roads? More crowded beaches? More construction? More environmental impact? For me, the downside WAY outweighs the upside. I'll pass on paying more taxes when my retirement account is down 25%. Thanks but no... If you want to grow, pass the cost to those who want to be part of the growth.
3 days ago
Scott
3 days ago
@Scott
1 day ago
Commissioner Dean, thank you for starting a conversation with us. I have great respect for you and your role in securing our precious Guana Reserve for the state of Florida. However, we don't consider the widening of Mickler and Palm Valley Roads (cost $29 million) to be a capital project or a backlog - as these projects are called by the county. We don't want to create a highway from the NW part of the county to our single access Mickler Beach, changing the character of neighborhoods (like mine) on the Mickler corridor, chopping into the Guana Reserve for miles and bringing down hundreds of trees. If it has to happen someday, so be it. But not today.
We also don't need a $50 million Command Center for the police. We already pay among the highest per capita in Florida for law enforcement, and our crime is low. Let's see the data and justification for it. Those are just two of many projects for which there is not a consensus.
You've said the costs to the county of development were solved after 2018 when impact fees were set at the max. Then please help us understand why you told Action News Jax that the cost of SilverLeaf would be $50 million from our tax revenues for road needs. This was right after we overwhelmingly opposed the project at the hearing AND in emails. (Almost all of the email supporters of the project worked for SilverLeaf in some way and/or lived outside of our county.)
We don't trust that we'll have a voice in a citizen committee any more than we have a voice in the developer-dominated PZA. Heck, we don't even have a voice in general public comments, and have to sit for hours to talk for three minutes - discouraging almost everyone from publicly voicing their views.
Finally, the PAC behind the half million dollar ad campaign pushing the tax increase has the same address and phone number as those of SilverLeaf developer Travis Hutson. Businesses don't invest that kind of money without looking for a major return, i.e. massive investment in roads in NW St. Johns County. How about a poll to gather input from residents on how WE want to see our money spent?? No one has asked us. We don't trust a hand-picked committee to make such decisions. Thank you and have a great weekend.
3 days ago
Nicole Crosby
3 days ago
Nicole
3 days ago
Nicole Crosby
1 day ago
Nicole Crosby
1 day ago
Tommy Prothrow
1 day ago
The county is getting ready to fund- i understand a matching “ grant” to build a trail/ path in our neighborhood which is certainly not necessary - would save 800k - maybe we should compile a list of all these projects and present them with savings. No more taxes - only spend what is absolutely necessary.
3 days ago
Susan Henry
3 days ago
Susan
1d
Victoria even if the tax is not approved just watch the commissioners they’ll keep on approving new developments and increasing the problem like they’ve been doing for the last 5 years. They knew they were creating a massive deficit but did it anyway to satisfy the developers who own them. So now they’re holding a gun to the voters’ heads, and saying “tax yourselves or you’ll sit in even more traffic”
2 days ago
@Susan
1 day ago
I’m cool with kicking it down the road. It won’t get too far because of the traffic but that’s ok
3 days ago
This is really a bad idea. Increase taxes for the entire county and visitors so the developers and their crooked partners can use our $ to pay for the development they said they would. This tax increase is not for the residents of St. John’s county. Vote no.
3 days ago
Vote no.
3 days ago
Make the developers pay for infrastructure!!!!! Development is out of control putting more stress on infrastructure. Im voting NO to the penny tax.
3 days ago
Carolee Setser not the penny tax - 15% tax
3 days ago
Terry
3 days ago
Terry H.
3 days ago
Hutson should look at it this way. If there’s tons of traffic to his new development the sales people can say “see all that bumper to bumper traffic. It proves this area is popular”
3 days ago
I’d point out the Spanish didn’t raise taxes for roads
3 days ago
Stephan
3d
@Ron
3 days ago
Ron
3 days ago
Stephan
3 days ago
Ron
3 days ago
Stephan
3 days ago
We shouldn't have built homes if the developers, builders and those living in these homes didn't have a means to pay for it out of their share of their pockets. We shouldn't have to pay for costs associated for their projects.
(edited)3d
Deborah but it doesn’t
3 days ago
I’d gladly pay a little more to support many of these projects and increase property values. I’m glad I voted yes!
3 days ago
Mike Cautero
3d
Mike
3d
Fred
3 days ago
Deborah I’m not sure what you’re saying has to do with the sales tax proposal. Property values have increased all throughout the state.
3 days ago
Mike
3 days ago
Mike
2 days ago
Mike
2 days ago
Mike Cautero
2 days ago
Fred Janz
2 days ago
Deborah those people won’t be able to afford it as the economy keeps getting worse due to current leadership,so maybe some projects can be stopped or put on hold. If we do the right thing during this election maybe we can change st Augustine’s course just a bit
1 day ago
Mr. Dean--were you comissioners to have specified how the $$$ were to be spent (as I recommended months ago), rather than generic areas giving you leeway to spend it at will, perhaps there might be more support fr the penny increase. As it is, we will be voting NO as we don't trust you guys to do the right thing. For example, too many approvals for new construction w/o addressing the problems created
3 days ago
Ken Sivulich
3 days ago
Ken
3 days ago
Ken
2 days ago
The quality of life is gone because you won't stop letting developers build. It's not like it's locals buying these properties. It's people coming from states that they already ruined and now want to come here and ruin Florida.
There is no amount of money we could give you politicians that would make them happy. NONE. If we were taxed at a 90 percent rate they would STILL say they needed more money. They would want to know why we don't pay 91 percent? They want more money and give us less quality of life. All of us in this area might as well move off of San Jose Blvd because that's what Racetrack road looks like now. Cunningham Creek might as well be a part of Rivertown since it's petty much going to be surrounded by it.
Please tell me exactly what I got for my money the last time you raised taxes? Seriously, what is it? I don't have a new house. My kids don't go to a new school. There isn't a new library. My road isn't any wider. It's just busier. Traffic stinks. The rude people moving in are terrible. So please remind me again how my life is better? It isn't.
You are taking away Saint Johns and making us Jacksonville again.
The points I'm trying to make are this:
1. We the unwashed masses have no say so. You're kidding yourselves if think differently. If every one of us was 100 percent against growth they would still vote for it. The representative republic I defended in uniform for 20 years doesn't exist at this level.
2. There is no amount of money we will ever be able to give our government that will ever be enough. No amount whatsoever. We will never see any benefit of this. A new development isn't progress. a new road isn't progress. it's just more people and more traffic ruining our area.
3. Outsiders from ruined states are the ones buying everything. Not us. Their goal is to make our Florida a NY, NJ, CA, etc. They ruined those places and they want to ruin here as well. And our politicians let them.
I just hope the 30 pieces of silver you get from the developers that you sold your political souls to is worth it. We are the ones suffering. Apparently not you.
3 days ago
@Michael
2 days ago
Michael
1 day ago
William
1 day ago
But Mike, we do not know how they will spend it. Hope your penny is not wasted, should it pass, but don't think it wil.
3 days ago