CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — A new stormwater assessment fee is set to take effect for parts of Clay County on Oct. 1, and residents are still pushing back against it. County commissioners are expected to discuss possible exemptions Tuesday for people experiencing hardship and disabled veterans, concerns residents raised during the meeting where the vote passed.
Residents packed the Clay County Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 25; many of them showed their opposition to the fee.
“The timing of this is just horrible,” one Clay County resident said in the August meeting.
Some residents, including Middleburg homeowner Randy Warren, told Action News Jax the real issue is overdevelopment.
“All of these builders who are building everything in Clay County, they are building all that. They’re laying all the concrete, all the asphalt, everything else. But why do they want us old homeowners to be paying for that,” Warren said.
The resolution up for discussion lists two exemption options. One is a full exemption for hardship, which would require meeting poverty-level income. The other is a 50 percent exemption for disabled veterans.
“For several years, you’ve brought veterans here and recognized them. They’ve led the pledge of allegiance, and you now have left them off the stormwater fee. They’re going to have to pay,” one Clay County resident said in the meeting.
Warren says he supports exemptions for people who need them.
“I don’t have a problem with that at all, especially the elderly, the handicapped. People are struggling. They’re struggling to come to a store like Publix and buy their food. Why should we be putting another tax on these poor people,” Warren said.
He says he wishes elderly residents would also be included. Warren says he loves where he lives but wants the county to continue addressing taxes.
“Let’s keep working on the tax situation,” Warren said.
Both exemption options would require applications and approval. Action News Jax will update you as we learn more.
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