The Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners has a proposed budget that cuts the $125,000 that the county has used to pay utilities at county-owned parks. Of course, parents and sports associations are up in arms.
This is a classic debate over what services should county government provide. One of the reasons citizens band together and form cities is to have better services – one of which is usually parks. However, in Santa Rosa County, the parents want the services, but not the extra taxes. Navarre, Pace and the Tiger Point area have enough people to form their own cities.
Heck, the Midway Fire Department has a tax that is almost as much as the ad valorem tax of the City of Gulf Breeze.
We can’t expand the non-essential services of the county and then get upset that their budgets are too large. The sports associations need to step up and pay for the utilities and maintenance of their parks. Or look at forming their own cities.