*Dec. 2018 - Jan. 1, 2022
On August 10, 2022, the morning news reported: "The rapid growth of the county impacting schools is one of the major issues St. Johns County School District Superintendent Tim Forson points to as students return."
That slick campaign promoting a “Better St John’s Plan” is funded by large land developers seeking subsidies from our county taxpayers. The Better St John’s PAC is managed by William Stanford Jones, who runs PACs for Senator Hutson and other land developers. That penny is actually a 15% increase in our retail sales tax burden and represents a tripling of the county’s take from retail sales!
Commissioners have admitted that they wish to use this proposed tax windfall to build the parks and roads necessary for land development. In effect, this lines the pockets of land developers, and does not hold them accountable for infrastructure costs.
Our County collected record revenues this past year. Why do we need to raise a sales tax during a boom year? On top of that, the Commissioners voted to give us a 12.5% property mileage rate increase over last year's rolled back rate. With our current tax base, we can well afford to build libraries and fund fire and rescue infrastructure.
Commissioners and developers argue that tourists will pay 40% of this new tax, but a look at last years numbers* suggests that it will only be 15%.
GOT QUESTIONS? You won’t find answers on the developers’ “Penny Plan” website because it has no contact form or email address. They’re hiding behind their PAC, and simply expect us to believe their deceptive advertising – no questions asked. Don’t play into the developers’ hands. We can afford improvements without taxing ourselves. You can ask us questions at 1stCoastConservativesUnited.com
On election day, vote NO on the referendum for a "one cent sales tax."
*Last year, visitors spent almost $712 million in St. Johns County. A 1% tax on $712M is $7.1M. Over ten years, that’s 71.2M. That is 14% of $500,000. Tourism will grow over the next ten years, but not enough to reach 35 or 40% as the county claims. Even if tourism grows faster than our rapidly growing population, it won’t be higher than 20%. If you take 80% of $500,000, that’s how much the rest of us will pay for this sales tax increase over ten years – $4,000 per household.
Paid political advertisement paid for by 1st Coast Conservatives United, 1103 Hays Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32301.
YES.
NO.
Protect quality of life in our county.
Photo by Graham McGeorge
Fight for St. Johns County
NIX THE TAX
Don't be duped
by developers selling you the
"Penny Tax."
Vote NO for a 15% sales tax increase.
Paid political advertisement paid for by First CoastConservatives United, PO Box 20252, St. Petersburg, FL 33742
Commissioners Blocker
and Arnold voted
against our kids.
Krista is a Gold Star Mom with leadership experience on a governor-appointed board of a hospital that was failing. She helped turn it around and saved taxpayers millions of dollars. Krista is endorsed by the mayor of Atlantic Beach.
Chuck is a Marine and a combat vet. He has eight years experience on two elected county boards and one appointed board. He gets re-elected because he runs a tight budget for nearly 1,000 homes, and he fights for his constituents.
Paid for by Charles Labanowski and Krista Keating-Joseph, Republican candidates for St. Johns County Commissioners, Districts 2 and 4.
Email to SJC commissioners obtained
through public information request.
ChuckForCommissioner.com
ElectKrista.com
ElectKrista.com
DON'T MESS WITH MICKLER
This is the #1 cause
of suffocation
death of children.
Why did Senator Travis
Hutson draft a bill
allowing an unlimited
number of latex balloons to be released outdoors, potentially landing where children live and play?
Despite the Federal government warning that balloons can be deadly to children under age 8, Hutson still drafted a bill to allow unlimited numbers of latex balloons to be released outdoors, and his staff wrote of the bill: "Senator Hutson is ready to file."
Senator Travis Hutson is one of the biggest developers in St. Johns County. He has 15,000 homes approved but not yet built. His company gives massive donations to county commissioners to influence a majority to vote for his projects.
Is it just a coincidence that newly appointed Commissioner Arnold is a long-time friend of his, and her first official act was to vote for 5600 of those homes? Is it another coincidence that Commissioner Blocker's wife was appointed judge three months before that vote - and the position was created legislatively by Senator Hutson?
He also uses his senate seat to create bills that benefit his business, while claiming no conflict of interest.
We need a senator who's working for us, not for The Hutson Companies.
Gerry James will fight for Florida.
Gerry4Senate.com August 23rd primary
PAVE OR SAVE St. Johns County?
Photo by Craig O'Neal
Photo by Craig O'Neal
Commissioner Arnold and
Commissioner Blocker's
rubber-stamping of developments
is destroying the top 3 reasons
people live in St. Johns County.
Sarah Arnold voted YES 17 out of 18 times
to destroy undeveloped land - 2960 acres during her first five months - more than any other commissioner during that time period.
Blocker voted YES 71 out of 73 times to destroy undeveloped land during
his first 3 years
in office.
1. Top-rated schools.
Incredibly, we'll have 16,000+ children in 523 portable classrooms next year, because our commissioners vote YES to far more developments than our school system can handle. Portables reduce school safety, they're less secure and they hinder education. But Arnold and Blocker have no problem herding our kids into them, approving more developments, and ordering more. Kids are being bused out of their own neighborhoods. And many teachers are quitting. Despite all that, Arnold and Blocker recently approved a 5600-home development for The Hutson Companies - major donors to their campaigns. Arnold was appointed just in time to vote YES for her long-time friend Senator Hutson's mega-development.
2. Beaches.
Beach parking is overflowing. Yet Arnold and Blocker keep approving more developments and higher densities. Developers are pushing to widen Mickler and other roads to bring thousands more beachgoers to a single-access beach with insufficient parking. Opposition to Silverleaf was overwhelming, but it didn't matter to Arnold and Blocker. They approved it anyway. Another "minutes from the beaches" development.
3. Lower taxes.
Arnold and Blocker both want to tax us. Blocker even deleted "Lower Taxes" and "Fiscal Conservative" from his website. Their proposed sales tax would mostly support developments in the northwestern part of our county - costing the average family $4,000 over 10 years. Why would commissioners burden us with a sales tax increase when they've reported a $300+ million budget surplus due to the leap in home values and record tourism?
Chuck Labanowski and Krista Keating-Joseph are running for county commission seats in Districts 2 and 4, and they share the common goals of stopping out-of-control development in our county and keeping taxes low. Learn about their leadership experience on their websites, and vote for them August 23rd. Please donate today. They're up against big developer dollars.
Vote on August 23rd for Krista and Chuck for commissioners, Districts 4 and 2.
Paid for by Charles Labanowski and Krista Keating-Joseph, Republican candidates
for St. Johns County Commissioner, Districts 4 and 2
Chuck Labanowski fought for his country, and now, he's fighting for
his county.
Help him take it back on
August 23rd.
County commissioners Blocker and Arnold said FU to our Chamber of Commerce.
They didn't show up at the St. Augustine
or the Ponte Vedra candidate forums
(which says FU to us too.)
What will we say to them on August 23rd?
Commissioner Blocker and Arnold's campaigns received tens of thousands of dollars from the Silverleaf developer - the Hutson Companies, Hutson family members and associated PACs.
(No surprise the lawyer is also a tobacco lobbyist.)
