Page 7 - Dan Schebler News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Santa Rosa County missed out on critical infrastructure funding for the current fiscal year because county staff failed to meet a deadline from the Florida Department of Transportation, despite multiple meetings and reminders from the state agency.  The funding program, called Small County Outreach Program (SCOP), allots $20 million each year to counties in FDOT's District 3 that have fewer than 200,000 residents. The money is intended for critical road repaving and reconstruction projects. Out of the 16 counties in FDOT's District 3, only three are not eligible for the program because of po...

While we applaud the Santa Rosa County Commission’s desire to improve and expand infrastructure, we simply can’t buy into the argument that new homes are not generating enough revenue to cover the costs of services they receive. Let’s start with the basis for calculating property taxes. We know that because Florida voters incorporated the Save Our Homes amendment into the state constitution in 1995, the assessed value of homesteaded properties cannot increase year-over-year by more than 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less. In 2020, the CPI was 1.4 percent. The...