About Commissioners' Discretionary Funds: Part II--Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Discretionary Funds

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. 

Some folks have recently asked me about Commissioners' discretionary funds.  People want to know where these funds come from, what they can be used for, and if the use of such funds is actually legitimate and legal?

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

About Commissioners' Discretionary Funds: Part I--Support for Outside Non-Profit Entities

The new definition of insanity:  Opposing a practice and a policy for others that one participates in himself 

There was a rather ugly, particularly unnecessary discussion at the end of a recent board of county commissioners meeting that desperately deserves further discussion, analysis, and contemplation.

The topic of conversation that generated the dust up was one commissioner's apparent "disapproval"  of another commissioner's allocations from his office's district discretionary fund.  The reason the angst and gnashing of teeth was so hypocritical was because the commissioner who complained the loudest (and who ultimately voted against the expenditure) has he, himself, allocated tens of thousands to other non-profit community groups locally over the last 5 years.  Imagine that?  Here is the mentally-defective, whacked-out logic from the one dissenting commissioner that made that brief conversation so fascinatingly strange:

"If I want to fund a 501 c 3 of which I approve--- even if it is for $10,000.00 or more at a time----this is perfectly acceptable because this is an entity of which I approve--and therefore it is legitimate!!!!!" 

"But if another commissioner--whom I dislike and with whom I disagree on a host of issues-- chooses to fund $500.00 to a local 501 c 3 supporting girl's softball at a school in his district--this is an OUTRAGE and it is CORRUPTION!!!!!!"

So yeah--it's ridiculous, outrageous, and it was kind of weird in a surreal way--but not entirely unexpected.  The funny thing is, prior to this meeting, I do not believe there has ever been a vote on a request from one commissioner's discretionary fund that was not approved unanimously by his peers.  We all show a level of deference to one another on these requests.  Well, that is how it has typically been done---but I guess that is not going to be the way it is going forward.  Oh well.  He will rack up a lot more 4-1 losses.......lots.

But eventually last Thursday's vote passed 4-1--with the dissenting commissioner opposing all the allocations.  Interestingly-- another counterpart of mine on the dais even chose to add money from his discretionary funds to the same entities to be funded.  That was really great!  And the 4-1 commissioner voted against it all still.  Very strange indeed.

(here is the list of all commissioner's allocations from the general fund and TDT supported pots of discretionary funds from 2015-present--for those that want to see for themselves that I am telling the truth  👈😊)

Here's the thing:  Commissioners each get an allocation of $50,000.00 yearly to support 501 c 3 community nonprofits for which individual commissioners feel benefit the community and serve a public purpose.  Unexpended funds roll forward.  The vote of the commissioners for each other's allocations is the public action that signifies  such expenditures meet a public purpose.

But even with the vote, the expenditure is scrutinized, paperwork must be provided to staff and all