Sales Tax Vote In St. Johns County Tuesday (Jacksonville, Palm Valley: big house, neighborhoods)

[fsquid]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Agree 100% with your first sentence.

When it comes to the second - the sales tax (even with the added half penny) covers some of the costs. Not all. The county has - among other things - issued hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal bonds (including lots of COPs) to pay for new schools (among other things):

St. Johns County School Board hears update on growth management options | StAugustine.com

It's not a sustainable trajectory:

St. Johns County searching for budget solutions as debts continue to grow | jacksonville.com

Robyn

never said it covers all, just something to help

[jwolfer]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

There is lots of stuff going on in Florida today. Do any of you pay attention to "immigrants" from Puerto Rico? Now Puerto Ricans get along with Cubans in south Florida like oil and water. So people from Puerto Rico are gravitating to central and north Florida. Have arrived/are arriving soon based on talks with people I've met in Costco (my husband and I speak Spanish). How will those "immigrants" - who are pretty much like "immigrants" from the NE - affect us? I don't know - don't have a clue.

To quote "West Side Story" ... Puerto Rico's in America.

To move from Puerto Rico is like moving to Illinois, its the same country (Thus Robyn's use of the "Immigrants") Central Florida, specifically Kissimmee is known as new Puerto Rico and many have come from the island because the economy isn't that great there, the government is going to default on municipal bonds. There is also a large number coming from New York/New Jersey who themselves or parents came from the island. The largest Hispanic group in Jacksonville ( Orlando as well) is Puerto Rican. ( I saw a post somewhere supposing Jax would have Mexican as the largest Hispanic group) Since PR is part of the US English is a required subject in school from Kindergarten, and many have lived in NYC area. Granted school classes are not the same as using it everyday. But at least it is not totally foreign language for them.

Like Robyn I speak Spanish also, with a pretty good accent people often think i am the child of parents from Latin America. But Yes in 20 years I would imagine the Hispanic population of Jacksonville would be approaching 20%, right now I think it is 7%. Many of the 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics in South Florida are going to college at UF, FSU, UNF etc and moving to different parts of Florida for job opportunities or love. And people get tired of the fast pace and high population density of Miami Dade and Broward. I have Cuban and Colombian friends who moved to Lake City, Macclenny and Middleburg to escape South Florida... They hate going back to visit family.. driving down I-95 past Stuart is stressful.

The Navy also brings lots of migrants here to Jacksonville

[JMMH]

Okay I looked it up and here's the deal about sales tax on buying cars in Florida:

No matter where you buy if you live in Florida you have to pay 6% sales tax on the car.

Certain counties also will add a discretionary local sales tax (up to 1.5%) which can only be applied to the first $5000 value of the vehicle.

Duval is 1%, St. Johns was zero, but now will be 0.5%.

So basically any car you buy in St. Johns County will now cost $250 more, unless you buy a car worth less than $5000.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by Lisa259

The IB Academy at Nease is the only IB high school program. You have to apply, have teacher recommendations and be accepted to get in. If Nease is not your zoned school, like all the other academy programs, then parents need to provide their own transportation.

With regard to the land in Nocatee already set aside for new schools, that is true. Per the developer's recent email, Parc Group, "As the Nocatee developer, we have committed to provide the land to the St. Johns County School District to build new schools for the benefit of our residents."

I'm still confused. Does PV High School sit on 1 of the 2 high school sites the developers promised originally? Or have the developers donated a 3rd site for a high school (since PV High School does little or nothing for Nocatee)? Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by fsquid

I'm in Julington Creek Plantation, close to SR13. Unsure if I think a public transportation system is feasible for SJC but I would agree with you on lack of health care in the southern part of the county. However, that wasn't the question on the ballot. I also let my county commissioner hear about the lack of challenging some of these development plans when he was asking for signatures for the next election. Its all this simple man can do.

I never talked to my commissioner because I am not ok in terms of his "history":

Jay Morris returns "big money" investors to Florida county elections

OTOH - I have talked to Commissioners like former Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson - and they have always been nice when I had specific questions to ask.

FWIW - I guess I simply don't have enough time to explain my feelings about the state of finances in St. Johns County. We seemed to be going fine until the mid-2000's or so - the height of the building boom. And I think the giddiness of it all went to the heads of our BCC (who had previously been very level-headed).

For people who don't know - during that time - we pledged a lot of the "half cent" sales tax we get back from the state (in a nutshell - the state gets most of the sales tax - we get back the "half penny") for years/decades - to borrow a ton of money (we issued a lot of municipal bonds). To pay for a lot of things. Many non-essential if not downright frivolous. We refunded the bonds in 2015 at lower interest rates - but we have pretty much mortgaged our future for the next 20 years in terms of our sales tax receipts. If anyone likes reading dense documents - here are the bond details:

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board::EMMA

When it comes to the new sales tax yes - it belongs to us. And will be used for schools. But there is no guarantee that it will not be used to replace some other (tax) revenues that are currently used for schools. That disappear (during economic downturns and similar) or have to be spent elsewhere. Don't know if you been here long enough to remember how the lottery was sold. It was supposed to be the whipped cream and cherry on top of then current education funding. Didn't work out that way at all.

Overall - this doesn't affect me (hardly or at all). I do not depend on the county for anything (although I suppose I might have a very occasional 911 call). My property taxes can only go up a very small amount every year at most due to the Save Our Homes Amendment. Still - the degree of fiscal incompetence I have seen here in the last decade infuriates me. Because some people are going to have to pay for it down the road. Either in terms of money - their quality of life - or both. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by snuffybear

Actually, in high socioeconomic areas, donations to PTOs and Education Foundations, as well as Booster Clubs, do provide significant cash to the schools -- cash which schools in lower income areas do not recieve much of, and this is a benefit to schools in high socioeconomic areas.

Just curious - how much does a parent like you contribute? How much cookie dough do you buy (that was the latest fund raiser I encountered here)?

Note that the only contributions I have made to schools here have been to the fundraising efforts for lower income kids. Like going around and seeing how many school supplies I can buy/contribute for $100 during pre-school sales using all the available promos at the big box stores (if I hit about 5 stores - I can probably do $500+ - very fun shopping). Keeps me sharp in terms of shopping skills.

I did vote for the increased sales tax. I would be fine with a small increase in property taxes. But I also feel the developers should be contributing to the schools. And I also feel that the county needs to slow down the development rather than rushing to put up cookie cutter houses on small lots.

You don't get it. All of this is about imposing the costs on current and future residents - so the developers can mess up a lot of things - and leave here with healthy profits. While we are left "holding the bag". How do you propose to "stick it" to the developers?

FYI, those I run into that moved from the northeast all have excellent jobs at places like Deutsche Bank.

Big article about huge layoffs at Deutsche Bank in the FTU a few days ago. Article didn't say if it affects any people who work here.

Not sure why you keep digging on NJ. MANY people that live in FL, including yourself, are from other areas of the country. In fact, I've met people in NE FL from CO, CA, CT, NJ, NY, MA, OH, MI, IL, TN, NC, SC, TX, AZ and more. In fact, the highest number is probably from Ohio! Why don't you dig on the Ohio transplants?

I will try to come up with a whimsical name for people who are moving here from elsewhere. Might take me a while.

FYI, going back to your prior post, I do consider 90-95% to be "built out". We chose to live in a place that was "built out" because property values are more stable. Nor did we "need" a new house. We also wanted to be sure what schools our kids would attend. And, we like being at the beach and the vegetation in PVB that is not present when things are clear-cut in brand new neighborhoods that were formerly all pine.

90-95% isn't 100%. Are you now officially a NIMBY person <LOL>? One you've been here for more a few months - you will realize that pine trees are garbage (unless you are a paper producer - most of the pine trees in SJC were cultivated pines in "paper tree farms") - and you will cut all of yours (if you have any) down. This year - we got rid of all our garbage gum trees too. There are some nice native trees that I enjoy on our property - but pine trees and gum trees are junk. Robyn

[snuffybear]

Way ahead of you Robyn. Already cut down the pines 11 mos ago.

I will not post personal information (and I dislike when you push people for personal information), but my donations to the school, between PTO's, Boosters, Athletic Fees, and Fundraisers, are fairly significant.

As far as the developers, that's why I say slow it down. We will be left holding fewer bags if the development is slowed, starting like now. They are rushing house construction in Nocatee and building houses too close to one another. And causing school overcrowding.

The county needs to be responsible and keep the growth manageable.

[Debg1]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Perhaps you could clear up one area that has me confused. I've been told there is only one high school IB program (at Nease) - and that we can only have one such program/school in SJC (because of the county's population). Is that true? If so - who determines which kids enter the IB program? Is there some kind of application process? Also - if a kid attends that program and Nease isn't the high school the kid would normally attend - will school buses take the kid to school - or do the parents have to provide the transportation?

I guess the IB program situation is one reason I get bombarded with fundraising campaigns from 2 high schools (PV and Nease). Robyn

I believe Lisa beat me to reply 😊 - Nease is the only High School in the County offering IB and it does involve a competitive application process with parents needing to provide out of zone transportation.
I was surprised with the high school hours in the county - in most areas high school is the earliest and here it is the latest, my son does not get off the bus until after 4:30!

[Lisa259]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

I'm still confused. Does PV High School sit on 1 of the 2 high school sites the developers promised originally? Or have the developers donated a 3rd site for a high school (since PV High School does little or nothing for Nocatee)? Robyn

Honestly not sure as I don't have the plans in front of me But regardless, there are multiple school sites set aside on Nocatee's property. For what grades they are used for isn't set in stone, they are simply plots that PARC has committed to providing to the county once they are ready to build the next school there.

I don't know if PVHS was a donation by PARC and like you said it doesn't technically serve Nocatee, as the children are currently zoned for Nease.

[Lisa259]

Originally Posted by snuffybear

Actually, in high socioeconomic areas, donations to PTOs and Education Foundations, as well as Booster Clubs, do provide significant cash to the schools -- cash which schools in lower income areas do not recieve much of, and this is a benefit to schools in high socioeconomic areas.

For example, Valley Ridge PTO raised over $200,000 its inaugural year. The donations came from local businesses as "business partners in education", sales of spiritwear, membership, festivals, sponsorships and alike. No cookie dough fundraisers that year. The amount we gave back to the school was amazing...purchasing books for classrooms and libraries, playgrounds, equipment, software, licenses, curriculum materials, musical instruments, art classroom supplies....the list goes on and on. It's definitely an example of what snuffybear was talking about.