Community Development
Nassau County, FL - I enjoyed reading the recent article in the News-Leader detailing the possible joint venture between Borregaard and Rayonier Advanced Materials to form LignoTech. It is perfectly reasonable to ask tough questions and seek answers to them in order to fully vet this project and ascertain if it is in the public’s interest. I fully support this project for a number of reasons, but I’d like to share my perspective on my principal reason for supporting it, as it highlights what I believe is needed most in Nassau County.
I am a fiscal conservative who believes in low taxes and smaller government. I don’t think Nassau County’s default go to move should be to raise the burden on residential homes to cover financial shortfalls. Rather, I believe the best way to accumulate the revenue needed for future revenue deficits and unavoidable growth in our County is to diversify our tax base.
Let’s take a look at the LignoTech possible venture. The immediate impact to our local economy is potential for 50-70 permanent jobs, which will assist in reducing the percentage of our citizens who have to leave our great County for work each day. In addition, these jobs will bolster a minimum salary of $54,000, which is higher than the county’s median wage. The even greater impact is the $110-130 million capital investment. This investment into our community will generate over $2 million in tax revenue; a significant impact that will go toward maintaining the county’s infrastructure and being able to provide adequate services for our citizen’s. This diversification of the tax base lowers the burden on residential taxes. I commend the City of Fernandina Beach, the Nassau County Economic Development Board, and more importantly, the citizens of Nassau County for supporting this partnership.
While I understand we are not all in favor of growth and commercial development, there is nothing we can do to stop it given the County’s attractive assets such as the Crawford Diamond as an industrial site and the East Nassau Community Planning Area (ENCPA) as multi-use development. Thus it is important that we select a leader to manage this growth correctly by bringing in businesses that meet the needs of our citizens while still leaving a market share for our local business owners. Pending growth should improve our citizen’s quality of life, not decrease it.
Our County is very diverse. We have everything from farming to beaches, industrial to tourism, and everything in between. The wants and desires are very different in each Nassau County community. Therefore, it is important to select a leader who understands these unique challenges and has solutions rather than political buzzwords. Let’s continue to make Nassau County the best place to work, play, and live.
I am a fiscal conservative who believes in low taxes and smaller government. I don’t think Nassau County’s default go to move should be to raise the burden on residential homes to cover financial shortfalls. Rather, I believe the best way to accumulate the revenue needed for future revenue deficits and unavoidable growth in our County is to diversify our tax base.
Let’s take a look at the LignoTech possible venture. The immediate impact to our local economy is potential for 50-70 permanent jobs, which will assist in reducing the percentage of our citizens who have to leave our great County for work each day. In addition, these jobs will bolster a minimum salary of $54,000, which is higher than the county’s median wage. The even greater impact is the $110-130 million capital investment. This investment into our community will generate over $2 million in tax revenue; a significant impact that will go toward maintaining the county’s infrastructure and being able to provide adequate services for our citizen’s. This diversification of the tax base lowers the burden on residential taxes. I commend the City of Fernandina Beach, the Nassau County Economic Development Board, and more importantly, the citizens of Nassau County for supporting this partnership.
While I understand we are not all in favor of growth and commercial development, there is nothing we can do to stop it given the County’s attractive assets such as the Crawford Diamond as an industrial site and the East Nassau Community Planning Area (ENCPA) as multi-use development. Thus it is important that we select a leader to manage this growth correctly by bringing in businesses that meet the needs of our citizens while still leaving a market share for our local business owners. Pending growth should improve our citizen’s quality of life, not decrease it.
Our County is very diverse. We have everything from farming to beaches, industrial to tourism, and everything in between. The wants and desires are very different in each Nassau County community. Therefore, it is important to select a leader who understands these unique challenges and has solutions rather than political buzzwords. Let’s continue to make Nassau County the best place to work, play, and live.
