Letter: They get golf course, I want hockey

Morgan H Orlins
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

Dear Editor:

One of our long-time county commissioners recently announced his desire to be re-elected, claiming that he seeks to “keep our services in place”.

Among those “services” are a golf course that’s hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars to the tune of approximately $200,000 per year. Not to mention an $8.7 million dollar purchase price, upgrades, and an additional fleet of golf carts acquired this year for $250,000.

Another “service” currently subsidized by the county is an equestrian center which cost taxpayers $1.4 million dollars to acquire and continues losing approximately $26,000 annually on operations. I wonder, what percentage of the population are utilizing equestrian services?

The St. Augustine Amphitheatre is a wonderful asset to the county. But, why should it cost the taxpayers a penny? Rather than subsidizing a money pit, why shouldn’t we let a private company run the operation so that the taxpayers can move this liability into the asset column?

I lived in Minnesota for 11 years, so I’m a big hockey fan. There are probably a few thousand of us hockey fans here in St Johns County. All of us would consider a venue for hockey to be an important “service”.

Maybe the commissioner could build a big expensive hockey arena to “serve” us? If the past is any indicator, surely the commissioner would commit the taxpayers of the county to go ever-deeper into debt to keep another special interest like us happy? Heck, I love horses and golf, too. That doesn’t mean that I expect other taxpayers to pay for my hobbies. believe the commissioner is justifying his higher debt spending to solidify his own power base.

Folks it’s a simple as this — you can have more government spending, or you can have more jobs and prosperity. I choose the latter and intend to vote for fiscal responsibility by voting for Kim Kendall for the District 2 seat on the board of county commissioners.