FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Fernandina Beach City Commissioners will soon decide whether to raise property taxes to backfill revenues lost after local voters overwhelmingly voted to end paid parking downtown earlier this month.
Last month, they agreed to adopt an increased millage rate that would generate an additional $1.5 million in property tax revenues.
It’s the same amount of money that would have been generated by the city’s downtown paid parking program, which was rejected by 75 percent of local voters in the August election.
Commissioner Tim Poynter (Seat 3) explained his vote to raise the millage this way in July.
“Either we keep the paid parking and have outside people contribute, or the taxpayers pay it all,” said Poynter.
But for home and business owners in the city like Ron Heymann, the inclination to raise taxes instead of cutting spending doesn’t sit right.
“There’s no way to try to figure out how to become more efficient, reduce waste, to maybe reduce headcount? There’s been a lack of a discussion, I think,” said Heymann.
Fernandina Beach Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue (Seat 5) was the only no vote on raising the millage rate in July.
He argued voters have demanded lower property taxes, which is why they’ll have an opportunity to phase them out on the November ballot.
“What we’re looking at is an overwhelming majority are more than likely going to show us in local government, hey, quit spending all of our money, quit spending every dime that you have and find some fiscal constraint,” said Ayscue.
The next vote on the millage rate is set for Thursday.
Heymann said he hopes residents come out in droves to share their frustrations before the tax hike is set in stone.
“I think people understand taxes do go up if there’s a need for that, but exactly what are we paying for with a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar budget for the City of Fernandina Beach? There’s 15,000 residents,” said Heymann.
In addition to Thursday’s vote, there will be one final vote on the millage rate on September 15th.
Action News Jax reached out to the other four Fernandina Beach City Commissioners for comment on this story.
Commissioner Genece Minshew (Seat 2) declined to comment, while the three others did not respond at all.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
