Fire-rescue, roads winners in St. Johns Co. budget

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – St. Johns County this week passed a $629 million budget for the coming year that includes more money for two areas that county commissioners believe need it most: fire department employees and maintenance and repair of existing roads.

The commission increased the budget for pavement management from $1.5 million last year to $6.7 million in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The money will help will fund improvements to 15 roads, including county Roads 13 and 208, Greenbriar Road and Palm Valley Road.

"We understand the transportation goes to the quality of life of our residents, and it's a core service," county spokesman Michael Ryan said.

The budget for the Fire-Rescue Division increased by $1.2 million to $38.9 million.

Ryan said SJCFR also received a $2.2 million grant to open a new fire station in Nocatee and pay for staffing the first few years.

Increased property tax revenues from the recovery of the housing market and new construction gave the council additional revenue for those two priorities, but since the council abandoned the idea of asking voters for a tax increase, the rest of the budget remains flat.

"Funding levels are remaining flat, so we're being forced to identify core services and allocate all of our funding towards those core services. As a result, we may not see increase in services as far as libraries and parks and recreation and programming and stuff like that," Ryan said.

The county has posed its entire 2015-2016 budget breakdown at www.co.st-johns.fl.us.