Fernandina Beach News-Leader (July 17 Edition, Page 7)

For several years now, Citizens for a Better Nassau County has chronicled our county commission’s fiscal mismanagement. We’ve seen them time and time again plan to fail by failing to plan for the future. We’ve highlighted how the commission deferred maintenance and capital projects needed for our growing county while allowing the annual operating budget to cannibalize the capital budget. We’ve detailed examples of when our commission paid cash for long-lived assets that should have been bonded over 30 years at historically low interest rates. For a growing county, it only makes sense that future residents help pay for the assets they, too, will enjoy, rather than putting the entire burden on current taxpayers.

We watched in horror as the commission failed to update for many years the impact fees that builders pay – dollars that help ensure future growth pays for itself – even putting a moratorium on these fees during the Great Recession. Were they looking out for homebuilders or taxpayers when they did that?

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