Nassau County’s path to financial sustainability

Citizens for a Better Nassau
Press Release
September 17, 2018 7:18 p.m.

For several years now, Citizens for a Better Nassau County has predicted and warned that our county’s poor fiscal planning and discipline would eventually come home to roost. While several naysayers crowed about an alleged positive financial condition of the county, we pointed out the huge capital project deficits, deferred capital maintenance, fully depreciated assets, insufficient impact fees, the 5+ year period when there was a moratorium on collecting any impact fees, the earlier failure to reinstate the fuel user fee and dwindling reserves raided for operating costs. Perhaps the single worst recent decision was the county’s misguided choice to pay cash for the new $10-million Sheriff’s Complex and Emergency Operations Center, at a time it already knew it was cash strapped, instead of bonding for the long-term capital project over 30 years at historically low interest rates to protect taxpayers from precisely the sort of jarring tax increase coming our way.

On September 24, 2018, at 6 p.m., the county will hold its final public hearing to adopt the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budget that includes a 23.61 percent aggregate tax increase. In addition, after stonewalling the issue for nearly a decade, the county commission has finally reinstated the fuel user fee to help pay for road projects, roughly 1/3 of which is paid for by people who drive through our county or visit here. The pain of these tax increases is made all the worse because much of it was self-inflicted. The Fishkind & Associates Nassau County Fiscal Sustainability Study in 2008 provided a crystal-clear road map of what the county should do to put its finances in order. Regrettably, the county put this study on the shelf to collect dust and failed to execute on virtually any of the recommendations (citizensforabetternassau.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Fiscal-Sustainability-presentation_Fishkind_9-2-08.pdf).

With concrete and positive steps forward, our county can continue to improve our fiscal sustainability by doing the following:

Regularly updating impact fees to ensure future growth pays for its impacts. Impact fees are the only equitable way of ensuring future development pays its fair share across the entire county. The 2008 Fishkind study pointed out that our impact fees didn’t even take into consideration new growth’s impacts on infrastructure and capital – and, they still don’t, which is unacceptable.

Bonding for long-term capital projects so we don’t burden current taxpayers for long-term capital investments that should be bonded at favorable interest rates over 30 years and paid for by future generations of taxpayers that benefit from that asset.
Leveraging gas tax revenues to provide local matching funds to draw down state SCOP and SCRAP grant funds for road paving.

Continue to broaden and diversify the tax base through high-wage jobs and economic development.

Rebuilding reserves that have been used to fill budget shortfalls; otherwise, there will not be any money in reserves for storm recovery or other emergencies.
Avoiding the use of non-recurring funds for recurring expenses.

With some new leadership entering the county commission, there is some renewed hope. We encourage them to learn about our county’s unique financial challenges, hire consultants to regularly update impact fees paid by builders and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Leadership matters if we’re to protect our property values and quality of life, so we can have a better future, one that is in their hands.

Retired Businessman Bill Gingrich is the chair of ‘Citizens for a Better Nassau County.’ For more information on ‘Citizens for a Better Nassau County,’ please visit CitizensforaBetterNassau.com.

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Gerald DECKER
Gerald DECKER(@myfernandina)
5 years ago

This all seems sound advice…..will the BOCC pay any attention?

John Goshco
John Goshco (@guest_52631)
5 years ago

Ten years and I’m still waiting…

brandon farmand
brandon farmand (@guest_52633)
5 years ago

Governments absolutely need to live within their means, but financing capital improvement projects, with historically low interest rates, to free up cash flows for short term and medium term needs is prudent financial management. Paying for the sheriff’s building in cash was foolish. And predictably, among other things, led to the situation we find today. Taxes have been kept artificially low, by funding operating expenses with reserve funds — an incredibly risky way to govern, should an unanticipated emergency ever confront the county.