County Government
Kohler: Expect a “Minor Rollback” on Escambia’s Budget—And a Wait-and-See on Ballot 3
District 2 Commissioner previews Tuesday’s budget hearing, defends the county’s lean staffing, and talks blight, homelessness and the CRA program that could disappear if the constitutional amendment passes.
Escambia County commissioners take up the county budget at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8, and District 2 Commissioner Mike Kohler told me this week to expect restraint, not a fight.
- Kohler said the county hasn’t raised its millage rate since 2006. Last year commissioners approved a minor rollback from 6.617 to 6.6 mils. He expects something similar this year—with one eye on the November ballot.
Ballot 3, a proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate property taxes on homesteads, looms over the discussion. Kohler said a more aggressive rollback now would cost the county roughly $43 million the following year if the amendment passes, and potentially closer to $140 million if the county also loses the local Penny for Progress sales tax.
- His approach: hold the line, take public input, then reassess after voters decide in November.
“There Really Isn’t a Whole Lot” of Fat to Cut
Kohler pushed back on the idea that county government is bloated. He said residents love to call for cuts in the abstract but balk when asked what specifically should go—a park, a library, animal services, code enforcement.
“Everyone wants cuts until you cut in their backyard.”
- He said the county actually controls a much smaller slice of its roughly $900 million total budget than people assume—about $340 million once state mandates and grant restrictions are factored out.
Where the county is short-staffed
- Public works
- Correctional officers
Where it isn’t: Kohler said the county currently has enough firefighters and that the Sheriff’s Office has kept pace with staffing, adding roughly eight new deputies a year under a three-year plan he helped set as chair.
“Time to Treat”
Kohler, a retired Navy officer and nurse with decades in healthcare and emergency medicine, pointed to two board decisions he believes will pay off for years: a new fire MSBU funding four new fire stations, and the addition of 26 to 27 new ambulances to the county’s EMS fleet.
“Time to treat’s what saves lives.”
He said the new stations should cover growth in the county for the next six to eight years.
District 2: Homelessness, Blight and a Lot of Diversity
Kohler said blight and homelessness are the two issues he hears about most from District 2 residents—more than he expected when he ran. He was candid that homelessness, in particular, is bigger than the county can solve alone.
- He also pushed back on any single image of District 2, calling it the most diverse district on the board—spanning wealthier pockets like Gulf Beach to lower-income areas in Brownsville and Beachhaven, along with sizable Filipino, Vietnamese and Hispanic communities and a historic Black community in Warrington, plus a heavy veteran presence tied to the district’s military bases.
What’s Next: A Library, and a Fight Over CRAs
Looking ahead, Kohler named two priorities: finishing the South Navy Boulevard project with FDOT, and building a new library near 57th Avenue and Lillian Highway, on the site of the former YMCA—a project he said the county has the money for now, but which could be jeopardized if Ballot 3 costs the county its Penny for Progress revenue.
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CRA: Please ask any county commissioner to explain the actual benefit of the Escambia County Community Redevelopment Agency and its nine redevelopment districts (Atwood, Barrancas, Brownsville, Cantonment, Englewood, Ensley, Palafox, Oakfield, and Warrington) that the BCC has declared to be “blighted”. See the link below. (The BCC could have designated regular citizens to serve as the “commissioners” serving as the so-called “board of directors” of the CRA but instead appointed themselves, an obvious conflict of interest.) How is it fair to divert countywide property tax revenues from 656 square miles of the county and spend it “only” in 25 square miles (less than 4% of the county)? More specifically, why should property owners in Ferry Pass, Scenic Heights, Cordova Park, East Hill, East Pensacola Heights, etc. be diverted to spend in one of the nine artificial “districts” listed in the first sentence? Property owners in those nine districts “do not” pay extra property taxes so what the CRA dies is “tie the hands” of the BCC!
Library: Acting under the authority of Chairwoman Ashley Hofberger, County Administrator Wes Moreno hijacked the library selection process, has refused to allow the BCC to fill two library board vacancies (a BCC action that should have been taken in January) and has refused to allow the library board to meet in May, June, July and now August too. As a budget discussion item, the BCC should begin to anticipate what it will do if the city council terminates its library interlocal agreement with the county. (The city is certainly very capable of running its own library system.)
Sheriff MSTU: Why does the BCC impose this extra property tax on properties in unincorporated Escambia County mainland? What unique programs does the tax fund?
Sheriff Funded by City Property Owners Too?: In 2014, I first figured out that the Escambia County property tax revenues used to fund the Sheriff included about $14 million paid by “city” property owners who get little to no services from the Sheriff. (In 1985, Escambia County won a lawsuit allowing it to tax city property owners to pay for the Sheriff but getting no services in return.) I reported what I had learned to the city council. Crickets. How much does the BCC intend to tax city property owners next year to pay for the Sheriff? The Pensacola Police Department already costs city tax payers more than $35 million. (This past weekend it took more than an hour for PPD to respond to a call for service at Eastgate Park made by Councilwoman Brahier herself. (The next morning I found eight beer cans and a bottle of bourbon at the basketball court too.) Mayor Reeves says the City of Pensacola has had the fourth lowest crime rate in the United States during his administration. (He said it during the League of Women Voters mayoral candidate forum.) If the city council were to abolish the PPD, the Sheriff would begin road patrols “in” the city just as it has done for decades in the Town of Century. The $35+ million General Fund & Local Option Sales Tax thus freed up could fix a lot of broken stuff “in the city” or the city council could abolish all sorts of unique city taxes and fees “not” paid “out in the county.”
Link to info about the Escambia County CRA: https://myescambia.com/our-services/neighborhood-human-services/community-redevelopment-agencies