One Penny Too Many

Early in 2019 the Santa Rosa County Florida Board of County Commissioners placed a special referendum  on the ballot for a Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) increase. In 2016 voters approved a five year, 1/2% LOST tax for infrastructure and rejected a 1/2% tax for a new court house.  Following the defeat of the court house tax, the BOCC took $40 Million dollars of savings and approved a new court house anyway.  

The new referendum is asking the citizens to repeal the current tax two years early, and implement a 1% LOST tax for a full TEN years.  

The truth about the “Penny Tax”:

- The term "Penny Tax" is a marketing gimmick to make a sizable increase in the budget seem insignificant to the voter.  The so called penny tax is actually a 1% tax on every dollar spent in Santa Rosa county. This is DOUBLE the current Santa Rosa county tax!

- The SRC Board of County Commissioners spent $225,000 dollars to get ballot initiative scheduled a year ahead of the next general election.  Even the County Election Supervisor admits that odd year elections have SIGNIFICANTLY reduced voter turnout.  They did this deliberately to take advantage of low voter turnout.

- This tax initiative is backed by wealthy donors outside Santa Rosa county  who are opposed to impact fees which they would have to pay to develop property in Santa Rosa County.

- The BoCC proposes to end a 3 year 1/2% tax early they said would be sufficient and replace it with a 1% tax for TEN years. This will ensure they tax becomes perpetual by not falling for a new vote during a general election repeating the cycle.

- The “LOST” tax collected in your district will be spent in other districts and will be disproportionate  to the population served in each district. For instance the lower panhandle area of Navarre is one of the largest populations but current proposed projects deliver the least to this area.

- The BoCC has opted not to study impact fees which pay for projects in the district they are collected. They simply claim it’s not enough in spite of other county agencies insisting its needed . ("Right now I can't support it," said Commissioner Bob Cole." ) 

- The BoCC is being deceitful and disingenuous in their promotional materials paid for by wealthy donors outside the county who also contribute to their election campaigns

- The BOCC has scolded voters for not supporting the tax and even threatened to raise property tax rates if we don't get behind this tax.  This amounts to extortion.  Since the property tax rate can be changed without voter support, there is nothing from stopping them from doing this anyway.

We want to stop the wealthy donors and the BOCC from imposing the tax in this manner.  The honest way to do this is provide the citizens with an impact fee study and propose both an impact fee and LOST tax during the next general election while the current tax remains in place.

Our goal is to raise awareness of the issue and increase voter turnout through a grass roots, private citizen initiative to run a social media awareness campaign throughout Santa Rosa County.  To date (9/26) I have spent approximately $55 dollars and ads have been seen nearly 50,000 times.  It takes 7 impressions to make a point stick with people so we are soliciting your help to fund the campaign.  100% of donations will be used in Facebook (and Instagram) campaigns focused on voters in Santa Rosa County.  I do not receive ANY money for doing this and I have NO affiliation with the BOCC, PAC or other agencies/political organizations in Santa Rosa County.

I have lived in Navarre since 2016 with my wife Dana and our dogs Kandy (RIP) and Arya.  Thank you for your help!