No Perdido City Local Bill will be Filed this Year in Tallahassee

According to Representative Alex Andrade, from his Facebook account this morning, the local bill that  had been prepared for filing in Tallahassee for the effort to incorporate Perdido will not be filed, after all.  Even though at a recent legislative delegation meeting the issue was unanimously voted for approval.  from Adrade's Facebook post:

“I will not be filing a local bill to place the question of Perdido’s incorporation on the ballot this Session. After reviewing We Are Perdido’s feasibility study in depth, and consulting with the Florida Department of Revenue and Florida House staff members, we determined that significant changes would be required to the proposal. Because, at this stage, these changes would need to be made by a single legislator instead of the residents of the affected area, I have made the decision to not file and sponsor the bill.

I have informed We Are Perdido of the decision, and encouraged them to spend this next year engaging in additional due diligence and public outreach if they decide to pursue this initiative in the future.”

I was neutral on the effort from the beginning, even though I saw serious issues with the feasibility study and a growing chorus of my constituents were reaching out with significant concerns.

Glad this effort will be given a bit more time for all of the details to be fleshed out, rather than being rushed through and forced like a square peg into a round hole---which is what it felt like prior to this announcement by Rep. Andrade.

More to come on this I am sure.

Delegation Meeting 10/26/23: Should "Perdido" Incorporate?

Escambia County's legislative delegation met yesterday evening at Pensacola State College.

A HUGE part of the meeting was about the nascent effort to incorporate a large swath of the southwestern portion of Escambia County into a new city called "Perdido."

There were large crowds from both sides that spoke passionately for and against the proposal.

In the end, the delegation voted unanimously to move the draft legislation ("local bill") forward to Tallahassee where it will be finalized, filed, and WILL PASS.

Then, the question will come before the voters in the "study area"--as to whether or not such voting residents want to incorporate.

Such an incorporation will lead to higher taxes for those within the boundaries of this new city if the voters approve the measure.  That reality was formally acknowledged last night by the folks from "We are Perdido" that are spearheading the effort.

Now the impetus is on every registered voter to educate him/herself on what this will cost, and what benefits it could bring.  And the question needs to be, is the extra layer of government and additional taxes worth it?

I am neutral on the question--but I do represent the area so I will DEMAND complete and honest transparency so the voters I represent can make an informed decision at the ballot box next year.

But there are a LOT of details to be worked out between now and then.......much more to come on this, stay tuned.

PROPERTY INSURANCE:

I spoke on the impetus for action on our state's BROKEN and DYSFUNCTIONAL property insurance market, and the desperate need for state action to provide attainable premium relief for Floridians via utilizing the Florida Huricane Catastrophe Fund to subsidize some re-insurance which would provide IMMEDIATE relief to Florida insurance consumers.  I hope the delegation will look at this at their upcoming special session in November.  I hope they will, we will see.

They need to.

Stop Perdido City will be Hosting a Community Forum at Jim Bailey Middle School on October 19th at 6:00 PM

Folks are organizing against the idea of incorporation in Perdido.....

A growing and building chorus of voices are rising up in opposition to the nascent effort at incorporating a large swath of the SW portion of Escambia County into a new city called "Perdido."

The group, "We are Perdido" has held multiple public meetings in Perdido, all of which I have attended.

The issue some residents have expressed to me is that their specific questions are not being answered; they feel as if the We are Perdido folks are not being on the level.  Thus, they have organized an opposition movement.  STOP PERDIDO CITY.

For my part, I am agnostic on the issue of whether or not this area of the county should incorporate.  I do not own a business in this area, nor do I own property or my primary residence in this area.  But this area is in my district so I am paying close attention and being attentive to what both sides are saying.  One thing I will make abundantly clear though is this.  Even if the incorporation is successful--the county will still collect it's 6.6165 mills on property in the new city.  Some are of the naive belief that if incorporated--"Perdido"  will just slice off this revenue from the county and keep it.  This is not the case.  The county will still get its millage, as will the school board and the sheriff's MSTU will also continue to be assessed as well as the children's trust and the library MSTU.  So the only change to folks' bills in this area, if incorporation succeeds, will be a probable additional millage levy by the new city to help fund their operations.  In addition to this, there will be new utilities taxes assessed on all utility bills in the new "city" that will likely be 10% as they are currently in other area municipalities.  In addition to this, businesses in the newly incorporated area will be subject to new business fees.

The new city will need to raise the equivalent of 3 mills worth of their current taxable value of $3.6 Billion (or roughly $10.5 Million) before they can tap into state shared revenue from the 1/2 penny sales tax for operations and the 1 penny sales tax for infrastructure.  (They will not collect any shared revenue until they raise this amount according to statutes---and the three means at their disposal to raise this $10.5 million are property taxes, business fees/taxes, and utilities taxes).

Also--many are concerned because according to We are Perdido's feasibility study--the new city does not meet the statutorily mandated population density to qualify to become a new city.

I was told by state Representative Alex Andrade he would support the new city's incorporation if it met the statory requirements.  I do not know if Representative Andrade will still run this bill in Tallahassee--even though the study area does not meet the density requirement; I do not know if he will seek a waiver from this statutory requirment and run it anyway.  That is yet to be seen, however I am aware of draft legislation already being compiled.  So that is an issue to watch as well.

So folks that are supportive need to know all of this, as well as folks that are opposed to incorporation.  

The other issue I would urge citizens who will be voting on this to think about is this:  What specific, real problem is incorporation of Perdido looking to solve? They are not taking the roads, so It can't be traffic.  They are not bringing schools, so it can't be education. They will not have their own fire service or EMS department--so it can't be public safety.  They will not have their own police force, so it can't be crime.  They will not own the county beach accesses, parks, or other facilities--so it can't be quality of life...So what specific problem are they looking to solve?

I've heard they want "control."  That's pretty nebulous and opaque.  What does that mean and is it worth the additional layered taxes/bureaucracy incorporation will bring?

Those are the questions that I would encourage citizens to ask.  Meanwhile, the flyer for STOPPERDIDO City is below.  

Is the "We Are Perdido" Web Page Censoring Comments, Hiding Citizen Feedback, and Blocking Dissent?

I had a very good conversation with Steve Brendtro of "We are Perdido" last week on my Coffee with the Commissioner event Wednesday. (Starting at 19:29 of this video)

I had a lot of folks watch and comment and I tried my best to be neutral while at the same time asking Devil's Advocate type questions.

My official position:  I am neutral on this Perdido City Incorporation initiative, because although it is in my district-- I believe the citizens have the right to make this decision without my thumb on the scale.  And as I said during my coffee meeting--if such an initiative goes through-it actually makes my job easier as many of the headaches and legacy traffic and other issues could be passed along to the new city.  IF the new city wants to take them.

Which brought me to the seminal question of the interview Wednesday:  What particular problem is incorporation looking to solve?  If the new Perdido City will keep the county's existing fire service, schools, sheriff's department, code enforcement, parks, beach access points, code of ordinances and will NOT take over Perdido Key Drive or Innerarity Road along with Bauer Road from the County---then what problem is incorporation solving?

The answer was opaque, byzantine and nebulous at best, feel-good and subjective at worst as I look back on the interview and study the responses carefully.

I think folks would support paying new taxes on their utility bills, new and higher business taxes and fees, and the big Kahuna of it all --two or three new mills on top of the existing property tax bill------if there was going to be new police coverage, new fire services, a new planning department, a new parks department, road and drainage engineering staff, etc.  But I'm hearing none of this is part of the plan.

So if not-- again an important question must be answered which is this---what problem is this solving?

Now, in the wake of the interview, several have facebook messaged me that they are "blocked" from the "We are Perdido" facebook site and some comments are hidden and others are not being allowed to post.

I know, better than most, that social media can be a toxic gutter of trolls,fakes, wannabes, losers and bullies.  That's the arena in which we live today, and you have to have thick skin and a titanium backbone to play in it.  And you have to ignore the garbage spewers and haters.  Most of them have empty lives and are simply attempting projection.

So yes---- you have to strap on your armor and take it -----you can't just censor it----or else people feel they are being misled or deceived which is not good when citizens are being asked to get behind a new and expanded government model which will cost potentially millions of dollars in new taxes and fees on top of the existing tax burdens they carry already.

A former commissioner knows this very well as he is currently in litigation over such conduct while he was in office and he might potentially face huge legal fees as a result--in addition to ethics charges, huge state ethics board fines, and all kinds of horrible press.  

Now, We are Perdido is a private group so they may not necessarily have to be fully transparent on social media like elected officials are supposed to be.  But if they aren't transparent---the optics are bad.

So I went and looked at the We are Perdido Facebook site and indeed it does appear as if several posts indicate multiple comments while only one or two such comments are visible.  This is a problem.

If you want to be neutral and unbiased, you can't engage in viewpoint discrimination by blocking folks, hiding citizen feedback, and stifling dissent.

Very poor form.

85th Coffee with the Commissioner this Wednesday Morning: Topic is Perdido Incorporation

 85th District 1 Coffee with the Commissioner on July 26

Join us for our  85th Coffee with the Commissioner event Wednesday, July 26. The live stream will take place from 6:30-7:30 a.m. To join the meeting, visit our Facebook site  here: www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/. 

This month's Coffee with the Commissioner will feature County Administrator Wes Moreno and Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore. Moreno will provide an update on county business and Gilmore will discuss public safety matters. Steve Brendtro, We are Perdido, will join as this month's special guest for a discussion around the effort to incorporate Perdido Key in District 1.

Residents are encouraged to send virtual questions and comments they would like to discuss with us during the event through Facebook.

For more information, contact District 1 at 850-595-4910 or district1@myescambia.com.