The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 at its special budget meeting Tuesday, Sept. 19, not to act on impact fees until at least October 2024.
Commissioner Sam Parker suggested the moratorium; he said construction costs already are too high and the economy “is becoming a wreck.”
The Santa Rosa County Commission unanimously approved keeping the 2024 millage rate at 6.0953 at its special budget meeting Tuesday, Sept. 19, which will generate about $98.4 million in property tax revenue. Commissioners also unanimously adopted a total budget of $251,355,646 for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
On Sept. 22, the Florida Lottery (Lottery) announces that Christopher Banks, 52, of Pensacola, claimed a $1 million prize from the 500X THE CASH Scratch-Off game at the Lottery’s Pensacola District Office. He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $820,000.00.
Baptist Hospital will be moving patients from its E Street location to its new campus at the corner of Brent Lane and I-110 in Pensacola Saturday, Sept. 23.
This includes the new Baptist Hospital Emergency Room on Brent Lane opens Sept. 23, at 3 a.m. The emergency room on E Street will close at the same time. Other Baptist Health Care ERs are open 24/7, including the ERs at Gulf Breeze and Jay hospitals and the free-standing emergency room at Baptist Medical Park-Navarre.
Following an August federal appeals court decision to uphold a 2021 ruling that Skanska, a construction company, was negligent and can’t limit their liability for damages caused by the company’s barges during Hurricane Sally in 2020. The decision was a major victory for individuals and municipalities looking to sue Skanska for things such as property damage and economic losses.
The University of Florida IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center (UF/IFAS WFREC), Feeding the Gulf Coast, and Waterfront Rescue Mission will once again join forces to celebrate National Farm to City Week Nov. 22 to 29.
Alternative subdivisions and clear-cutting are two of the most unpopular practices allowed under Santa Rosa County’s existing Land Development Code; last week, the Board of County Commissioners decided to remove alternative subdivisions from the updated LDC but unanimously agreed to keep existing clear-cutting practices.
A Santa Rosa County gun store owner is alleging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) harassed him and his store manager after criticizing the agency in the past.
Chris Smith, the owner of Gulf Coast Gun in Milton, says the ATF attempted to audit him for a license he had yet to use after he spoke out against ATF policies at a congressional field hearing held June 26 at the Okaloosa County Administrative Complex in Shalimar.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet approved spending $141 million to buy more than 42,000 acres, including more than 1,500 acres in the Wolfe Creek Forest northeast of Milton in Santa Rosa County.
