The Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to enact a newly proposed stormwater fee. Hundreds of Clay County citizens filled the meeting room, an overflow room, the lobby of the building, and much of the parking lot to speak against the new tax.
Public comments on the proposed fee began around 5:45 pm and continued for over five hours. Resident after resident spoke against the fee and outlined concerns ranging from not being able to afford the new tax to not gaining any benefit from the list of proposed projects.
Only Commissioner Alexandra Compere sat through the entire public comments session, giving the speakers her full attention. She received praise from several speakers for actually listening. She is the only Commissioner who has consistently voted against the new fee.
Board Chair Kristen Burke appeared frustrated with some of the people speaking, threatening to eject attendees for standing, clapping, or speaking out of turn.
Commissioners John Sgromolo and Jim Renninger read remarks that were clearly prepared ahead of the meeting, suggesting they had already made up their minds before hearing from the public. Kristen Burke had a pre-made list of cost savings enacted by the county that she alleged show the county has cut as much as it could before considering new taxes.
Betsy Condon lamented the mean things people said online about the County Commissioners and county staff, but said she could not support the fee as it was currently constituted.
The County Commission has been considering the new fee since at least November of 2025, and has used two consulting firms to determine the scope and details of the tax. Commissioner Condon voted for the tax at that November meeting and again in July of this year.
The same sort of fee was voted down in 2019, and over the subsequent seven years, the county took few steps to address the list of projects and needs that it says precipitate this new tax.
Ultimately, the commission voted to adopt the ordinance and fee with a reduced amount. Only Commissioners Condon and Compere voted against the measure. The Stormwater fee will go into effect on October 1st, 2026.
After enacting the new fee, the Commission voted to reduce the Veteran exemption for the county’s garbage fee from a full exemption to 50%.
The people of Clay County will have no idea who actually pay the stormwater tax. The so-called mitigation credit system is ill-defined and subjective. Some people will pay and others (with better inside connections) will be excused from paying. This has been the case in Green Cove Springs, where only 46% of the properties pay the usage tax, while newer developments were given a big break, even though all property owners will end up fixing their stormwater infrastructure once it begins to fail.
The School Board will pay nothing, even though they have an oversized impact on the stormwater system.
In GCS we have found that sites that have no impact at all on the City Stormwater system, were assessed over-sized assessments.
Our government employees at the municipal and County levels do not have the intellectual skill-set to fairly administer the complex stormwater tax system concocted by the consultants who developed the program.
In a few years, everybody will hate the stormwater tax system.
In the meantime, VOTE YES on Amendment 3 to begin the process of weeding out the governmente staff who put programs like this in front of the Commission.
After Renninger ran his mouth about “unless you served 26 years in the Navy, I don’t want to hear you”, the audacity of this self righteous jerk?! Goes to show that serving 26 years doesn’t make you a good man! Statistically, most guys that have spent 26 years in the NAVY or more are abusive alcoholics so Mr. Renninger, care to APOLOGIZE?! You and Burke are just bad for this County. ((Go ARMY!))