Orange Park approves 9% tax increase

Orange Park Town Council Members approved a millage rate of 5.8781 mills during their Sept. 20 meeting. Town Manager Sarah Campbell said the town’s $30 million budget, which the council also approved, does not rely on fund balance drawdowns, additional debt or decreases in levels of service. “The only new project that we proposed was the redevelopment of the town’s website as one of our visioning goals,” Campbell said.

During a public hearing prior to the millage rate’s and budget’s approval, former Orange Park Mayor Eugene Nix complained that for the past 20 years, the town has not requested proposals for the municipality’s legal services. He said the current legal services contract with Bradley, Garrison and Komando costs the town $12,000 a month and contains an automatic annual increase of 2.5%. “As a taxpayer of this town,” Nix said, “a rather large taxpayer, I am requesting that you immediately terminate this contract, go out for bids and see if we can get the prices better, and maybe some better service.”

“We don’t need a politician over here,” Nix continued, gesturing toward Town Attorney and State Representative Sam Garrison. “We need an attorney that works for the people, not for you and not for her,” he said pointing to Campbell.

Frank Ricketts, a member of the town’s budget and finance committee, complained that since 2013 Orange Park’s budget has increased by 63%. “This is a very unsustainable process if we continue going down this road,” he said. Ricketts also complained about the lack of detail in the town purchase orders he reviewed and the lack of documentation for expenses related to improvements at the Rob Bradley Conservation Park at Nelson Point. “We’ve spent a lot of money over there,” Ricketts said. “We’ve put a lot of dirt over there; we’ve done a lot of things over there and I can’t figure out where in the heck it is in the budget.”