County
Commissioners have been asked to support a plan that would allow St. George
Island voters to decide whether to incorporate the island.
Newt
Colston, speaking for a group called the St. George Island Growth Management
Committee, said his group has been investigating the possibility of
incorporation for St. George Island and have come up with a plan that seems
feasible.
They call
it “Government light” where the island would basically take over control of
planning and zoning issues while the county would continue to provide other
services.
The island
would also have to hire enough staff to carry out the island’s comprehensive
land use plan.
Mister
Colston pointed out that the county would continue to collect tax revenue from
the island – the island itself would levy a .3 mill tax rate which would
translate to 900 dollars a year for a 300 thousand dollar property.
He said
that would raise about 208 thousand dollars a year which would fund the island’s
government.
Mister
Colston said the island doesn’t meet all of the requirements for incorporation
in that its full-time population isn’t big enough and the construction density
isn’t quite high enough to meet the state requirements but he feels those
issues might be waived by the legislature.
What the
group wants is for island voters to have the right to vote on the issue.
The county
needs to provide its support for the issue to move to the next level, and
Mister Colston said they would need an answer by April for the issue to come to
voters in November of 2016.
If
everything moves smoothly, the incorporation would take effect in January of
2017.
The county
has not yet made a decision on the request.
They asked
that the county attorney make a recommendation after looking into the issue
more closely.
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