It's a stretch, but this might work

Happy Monday! 

Nearly 40 years of observing Citrus County government, I’ve learned to watch for certain things. 
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Like the County Commission’s bait-and-switch land-conservation greenprint discussion scheduled for Tuesday. It’s less about preserving land and more about marketing voters for a November referendum that, as of today, no one has a clue what’s on it.

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Folks, that is not the way to build citizen support for a vital community initiative. I have an idea that brings us back to center. Let’s talk about it.

Quick recap. Here’s my Florida Politics story from October. The board, by consensus, directed the staff to create ballot language for a 1-cent sales tax referendum in November for roads. Everyone except for Commissioner Holly Davis was on board.

The wheels came off during the subsequent public hearing when Commissioner Davis pushed the land conservation element. Suddenly, all the good work that a special citizens' committee had done in earnest on the community’s behalf was shoved aside to go down a completely different path.

Let’s be very clear about something. I’m all in favor of land conservation. Who in the local mediasphere backed the Pirates Cove purchase from the start? I did. And no one outside this blog is pushing harder to keep Betz Farm in public hands. So, my thoughts here have nothing to do with land conservation. I’m all for it.

What I’m not for is the cram-it-in route that the County Commission has left itself. Realistically, to even have a legal way to make the ballot, let alone giving citizens a fair shot at talking about it, we need to have this sealed up by May 1.
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We don’t have a ballot. We don’t have language. We don’t have a plan. We have a County Commission that can’t seem to focus.

The Trust for Public Land has quite a detailed explanation on how to go about taxing citizens for land conservation. Take a look at the report.

First off, this report is free, so let’s be kind to the experts who prepared it. Having said that, the whole idea of pushing this referendum decision off another few months, hyping conservation over roads, was to find out if that’s what citizens would support.

Instead, the group wants the board to decide the referendum language NOW, and THEN it will ask citizens for feedback. That makes no sense. We had ballot language ready to go back in November until this four-month detour. Does the County Commission really need ANOTHER set of opinions before making a decision? 

(Again…not to hammer home the obvious…but a special citizens' committee, whose members included those appointed by the County Commission, already went through this entire exercise. They have received nothing for their effort. The County Commission dropped ‘em like an anchor.)

I have two thoughts. 

As I wrote in January, the sales tax referendum seems like a goner this year. I mean, for all the reasons I’ve described, the public can’t follow the bouncing ball. It’s a trust issue. The County Commission simply has no track record for referendum supporters to point to.

Doesn’t mean the idea’s lost. It’s just lost in 2026.

Or an alternative. Listen. The government geek in me is screaming at the lack of protocol in this hijacking of a citizen-led referendum. However, when Just Wright Citrus broached the “One for All” sales tax in January 2025, my conversation starter was a split between roads and buying land for parks.

So, I propose:

— 1% local-option sales tax referendum on the November ballot, dedicated to roads. Essentially, the same language that commissioners agreed to in October. It’ll bring in about $25 million annually.

— With one caveat: $1 million comes off the top each year for conservation. The citizens committee had a similar recommendation, which the County Commission rejected in its October consensus.

That's the best I can suggest moving forward. We’re still a significant stretch to voter approval. Just being real here.

Have a great Monday, friends.

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