Membership Fundraising

How badly were you affected? I'm not talking about our recent hurricanes that hit Florida, but your recent Tax Bill. Yes, once again, non-homesteaded properties saw a 13% increase, and homesteaded properties saw the maximum of 3% allowed by law. Franklin County and, separately, our school system is rapidly converting our beautiful county into a place many can't afford. Taxpayers have an integral role to play in reining in wasteful spending.

Greetings! It has been a busy year for the Concerned Citizens of Franklin County (CCFC). Despite our meetings with county staff, commissioners, and the Sheriff, ad valorem taxes increased by another $2.4 million, plus millions more in new grants. This budget included the 5th and final year of the Evergreen Consulting Contract designed to supposedly equalize county employees' salaries to other counties. That line item increase alone is $350k for county departments, not Constitutional Officers or our schools. The net effect is that county and school employees have seen raises over the last four years exceeding inflation, sometimes by a lot! The Sheriff received a special $500k grant to plus-up his budget, which Commissioners only learned about late in the game, leading to a modest reduction in his requested budget. Every bit of the increases from all the county offices and departments were for salary increases. These were line items the county was unwilling to negotiate on.

The county budget in the past 10 years has increased from $44 million to $112 million, with employee count increasing from 164 to 192 and our population remaining essentially flat. Franklin County has seen substantial growth in housing and tourism, requiring more labor for Parks and Security. However, the growth of fee income is even higher than the growth of salaries. The county has money running out of its ears! Department heads routinely find "spare" money to make major unbudgeted purchases all the time. Franklin County is not being run as a tight ship

I continue to complement our commissioners. They remain receptive to our requests and are willing to meet individually. However, being receptive does not mean they are always good stewards of our money.

We feel that the Weems Hospital issue has been won. The county is not currently building a new facility. The county is spending $50k on a study to analyze whether to stay in the hospital business and in what ways to move forward with Weems. We believe this study will swell to $100k before it's over. We must be vigilant to ensure the county financially exits the healthcare business after spending over $25 million to keep it afloat. We are watching and don't want the public to be hoodwinked.

The county is under assault with numerous challenges on zoning and other issues. Our cherished way of life is threatened if we don't stay involved. Please consider supporting the CCFC, thereby keeping us in the fight with your non-deductible annual dues. Send your check of support to P.O Box 990, Eastpoint, FL 32328. Also include your email address on your check or, better yet, send an email to us so we can capture your email address to ensure that you stay informed on CCFC activities, and we can stay in touch. Here is the email address to use: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The CCFC makes a difference every day, leading to a Better Franklin County.

Thank you for your support.

Mason Bean

President
Concerned Citizens of Franklin County, Inc. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.ABetterFranklin.com
(850) 653-5571

CCFC MISSION STATEMENT

The Concerned Citizens of Franklin County serves as an advocacy group watching over our Franklin County governments to ensure that they are more open, affordable, efficient and responsive to its citizenry. The CCFC intends to hold public officials accountable for their actions in the administration of their duties and in meeting their fiduciary responsibilities to the taxpayers.