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| The utilization of district discretionary LOST funds allows individual commissioners in their respective districts to identify, fund, and implement good and necessary projects--like the ones I am intending to bring forward for funding from this source, listed below. |
So here goes....
Before I was elected to the board in 2016, the board had a pot of discretionary funds from the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) that was split out among the commissioners yearly in increments of $50,000.00 per commissioner, with unutilized amounts rolling forward if not expended. These funds, at that time, had the caveat that they could only be used for event sponsorships or activities that would bring in tourist dollars from out of the area and generate hotel room nights in the county.
By the time I took my seat in November of 2016, this practice of TDT discretionary allocations had been ended by the commissioners and replaced with a yearly allocation of $50,000.00 in general fund monies that could be utilized by commissioners to fund local non-profit entities that support the community and serve a public purpose. The uses for these new allocations were much more broad than were the previous monies that were mandated to be "tourism-centric."
From the time I have been on the board, the process of vetting organizations and funding them from discretionary allocations has run very smoothly--until recently when there was a bit of ill-placed consternation displayed about the practice.... But that incident was simply and succinctly squelched via a 4-1 affirmational vote....
The larger and much more profound pot of discretionary funds yearly for commissioners is our Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) discretionary pot of money. Each year each commissioner gets an allocation of $1 Million Dollars in LOST funds for use as each commissioner sees fit within his district--subject to the statutory provisions guiding the use of these funds and subject to an affirmative vote of the full board of county commissioners (which is the check and balance of this process). The unexpended balances of these funds carry over yearly.
The Local Option Sales Tax is a one penny tax on most consumer purchases made in Escambia County. It's implementation was graciously allowed for by our county's voters who have been generous in permitting us to levy this tax since the early 1990s. (Other local counties have struggled to implement their LOST tax--with voters rejecting this concept in other nearby communities over and over....)
Locally, our LOST produces about $42 Million yearly--a portion of which is shared with the county's two municipalities, Pensacola and Century. The balance of the funding yearly is used locally to purchase property, renovations, maintenance services, buildings, ambulances, fire trucks, sheriff's equipment and vehicles, computer hardware, and a host of other things--but primarily capital expenditures or durable equipment that lasts 5-years or longer. A portion of the LOST funds assists
us with economic development incentives for large companies to bring good-paying jobs to our area (Navy Federal Credit Union, ST Engineering, International Paper, etc.).
I have judiciously watched over the District 1 discretionary LOST funds over the last three years. Currently I have just under $3 Million available to me for projects in D1 for which other funding sources or full funding has not been previously identified. The following projects are ones I intend to bring forward to fund completely or partially utilizing my D1 discretionary LOST funds over the next several years.
1. Beulah Fire Station Modernization $1,000,000.00
2. Bellview Public Library $250,000.00
3. Regional Drainage Improvements,
Godwin, Blue Angel, Sarasota Street $400,000.00
4. Drainage project, Dunaway Lane $200,000.00
5. Cerny Road/Muldoon sidewalks,
street lights, and drainage improvements $700,000.00
6. Splash Pad at Beulah Park $200,000.00
7. Misc. street lights, sidewalks
and roadway improvement at various
other locations throughout District 1 $225,000.00
These funds are crucial and allow for each of the commissioners to identify good projects of tremendous need in their own individual districts which can be funded and put into action quickly. I support the concept and practice--and I know that my constituents do as well!
Of course all those penny taxes are good. They make the world go around.
ReplyDeleteTHAT'S how we have nice things.
Thank you for the blog.
Here we get the truth and an education.
Economic development is a good thing also.
Opinion states as facts are that--opinions.
Thank you for providing an overview and a detailed breakdown of the LOST funds.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading a number of years ago that former Commissioner Robinson pledged his ENTIRE amount of annual discretionary LOST funds for 10 years to help pay for the silly roundabouts at the beach. This pledge is not reflected on the spreadsheet. Why wasn't his annual expenditures (and that of his successor) put on hold by the other commissioners to help Grover live up to his "pledge"?
Commissioner
ReplyDeleteI've heard negative campaigning doesn't bode well so your blog informing voters is noted, as well as your measured ability to avoid the drama fray of facebook. I hope other will follow the links you provide and connect the dots as well.
From the coffee with commissioner, and other factors in D1 such as growth, it appears most voters are not following the dirty politics and may be new to the area and just simply want assurances of what they personally want and need.
Not as exciting as the drama of catching D2 lying -- a politicians whose lips are moving.
At least a few other people are calling him out as well on ECW.
Will all those people commenting on Facebook escambia citizen watch please watch a meeting. I give up. I have never observed a collection of people prone to giving an opinion without having a clue...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this detailed explanation, Commissioner Bergosh. I never knew the evolution of the 50K discretionary from the TDT...that solves some mysteries in the misunderstandings and/or misinformation that gets bandied about on ECW (never sure which is which). It's really important for people to understand the nuts and bolts of this.
ReplyDeleteCitizens of course have the right to input their opinions on the particular choices commissioners make with their tax dollars. But the blanket idea that the existence of these two distinct discretionary funds is corrupt, in and of themselves, is ridiculous.
And of course Commissioner Underhill loves to beat his chest on this item, because he knows it will never get voted down, he can 1-4 it as if he's a fiscal conservative, and then spend his funds on whatever garbage he wants. 10K for a skate park that isn't even in District 2; an enormous amount of his capital discretionary for the Inlet Management Plan, which is nothing more than a sand giveaway to his condo owners sussed up as an environmental and military project (thanks to the rest of the BOCC for recognizing that and not funding it with LOST, BTW).
I hope these blog posts on discretionary reach a lot of people, as there was so much bad information being bandied about in the wake of the last meeting. Most people who follow politics, however, recognize that Doug is just hell-bent on making his peers' lives miserable in every way he can these days. It's sad you all have to deal with that. Keep in mind there are such things as censure and a vote of no confidence at your disposal.
--Melissa Pino
This blog is wonderful and informative! Thank you for building a space to communicate how county government works to our community!
ReplyDeleteThose discretionary funds appear dubious to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Larry Downs that they appear to be a “slush fund”.
Surely, those “discretionary” funds provide incumbents with an unfair advantage at election time.
Do our federal and state legislatures also get these discretionary funds? Why do we need these funds at the county level?
Your statement that the other four commissioners provide “checks and balances” is specious - all five of you are participating.
Madam Clerk possibly provides some level of checks and balances, but your colleagues are not impartial.
It was only 20 years ago that four of our commissioners conspired to skim public funds.
And recently, commissioners Barry and May each attempted an unethical clawback of over $200,000 a piece in taxpayer money.
You five commissioners need to do a MUCH better job at avoiding impropriety.