This election could be decided by a handful of votes. For many, the Community Maritime Park vote last fall was a clear-cut choice for the future of the area. This vote for half-cent sales tax to help get primary care for the uninsured isn’t.
We’re a community that has voted for taxes for county government and the school system, but there is a reluctance to set up an assistance program for the working poor. Even though the impact for an average person is only $4 per month, it’s still $4 that could be spent elsewhere.
I’m not a fan of the county budget and have advocated consolidation for more than year….before it was popular. I don’t like taxes. However, I can’t turn my back on the pitiful health outcomes in this county. We have people dying and losing limbs to treatable illnesses if discovered early enough. No woman should die of breast cancer, but they do in Escambia County. Our infant mortality rate is horrible. Our number of amputations due to diabetes is soaring.
I see the Access Escambia proposal as a step towards reversing these statistics and saving lives.
Agree or disagree with me – vote.