More Taxes on Your Ballot
I just got the latest sample ballot from the Supervisor of Elections Office. It is not easy to find on their website, but it is there. I will provide the link here to the page that has the ballots listed according to which State House District you live in. Here are the 3 local items that will be on the ballots of ALL Alachua County Voters.
1. Earlier this year, during the Presidential Preference Primary/Gainesville City Commission Election, there was a tax cut on the statewide ballot that passed. It passed. Now it is time for Alachua County residents to decide if they want to restore the revenue lost to local public schools by passing a local property tax. Here is how the ballot item, listed under “County Referenda”, will be described:
Approval Of An Additional One Mill Ad Valorem Tax For School District Operating Expenses
Shall the Alachua County School District’s ad valorem millage be increased by a total of one mill, beginning July 1, 2009, and ending four years later on June 30, 2013, for necessary operating expenses including funds to provide school nurses; maintain elementary music and art programs, middle school band programs, school library programs, elementary guidance programs, and academic/career/technical magnet programs; and update classroom technology; with oversight by an independent citizens’ committee?
2. In 2004, the CHOICES program was passed by the narrowest of margins during the August 31 Primary. This is why we have that added 1/4% sales tax. But during the November General Election there were two taxes, a 1/2% sales tax for roads, and another 1/2% for parks and recreation. Both lost narrowly. This year, the Parks and Recreation tax will be embedded in this item.
Wild Spaces & Public Places Environmental Lands, Parks and Recreation One-Half Percent Sales Tax
Shall Alachua County be authorized to extend the Alachua County Forever Program to acquire and improve environmentally sensitive lands to protect drinking water sources, water quality, and wildlife habitat, and to create, improve and maintain parks and recreational facilities in all cities and the County, with citizen oversight and independent audit, by the levy of a one-half percent (1/2%) sales tax for two (2) years starting January 1, 2009, and ending December 31, 2010?
3. Alachua County residents voted to tax themselves to buy lands for the purpose of greenspace preservation back in 2000. This referendum is to keep future county commissioners from selling those lands without a public referendum.
Protection of County-Owned Lands Acquired or Used for Conservation, Recreation, or Cultural Purposes
Shall the Alachua County Charter be amended to require that the sale or conversion to another use of county owned lands acquired or used for conservation, recreation, or cultural purposes be effective only if approved by a majority of the electors in the County in a County-wide referendum election?
Don, I was searching for info on amendments and found a link with helpful info: http://www.flcities.com/legislative/files/A228852694304B2092B40D75B87C847C.pdf
1thanks for caring about our local politics!
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How dare , Alachua county commisioner still think thay can keep milking our pockets.With all the financial crisis we are going thru and still we have to keep looking for these unscrupulous characters looking to our pockets?. One can only hope people to be hit so hard they might wake up.
2Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” … But some of the goods that we buy through taxes are inevitably becoming more expensive because of underlying demographic and economic trends. We can simply refuse to pay the costs and blind ourselves to the human consequences. Or, controlling costs as best we can, we can meet the challenge of paying the price of running a civilized society in our time.
And not just a civilized society — a productive one, too. Much of what we do via government contributes vitally to economic growth and ef?ciency. Conservative views of public spending typically portray it entirely as a drain on wealth. But public expenditures on education, science and technology, health, and many programs for children are critical forms of investment, with a demonstrable history of long-term payoffs.
Government also contributes to our wealth in other ways. Environmental regulation, for example, helps to preserve our “natural capital,” elevating long-term interests in a sustainable future over short-term gains. Financial regulation reduces the likelihood of old-fashioned panics, raises con?dence in the markets, and increases the ef?ciency of capital allocation. Overall government spending plays a countercyclical role, helping to prevent downturns from becoming depressions.
Beyond these economic payoffs, government enables the public to purchase some goods unavailable in any market. As consumers, we are concerned with no one’s bene?t but our own. That’s a kind of freedom, but a society with only that freedom wouldn’t be free — nor would it survive. A free people, acting together, must have some means of placing decisions outside the market to provide public goods and to avoid making all the conditions of life depend on individual economic capacities. –Paul Starr, co-editor, The American Prospect
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