Escambia Children’s Trust Holds Town Hall Meeting In Molino
August 13, 2023
The Escambia County’s Children’s Trust held a series of three town hall meetings last week in Escambia County.
An early Tuesday afternoon meeting at the Molino Community Center was attended by just a couple of people not affiliated with the ECT or one of its partner agencies.
During the Molino meeting, attendees were asked for input on how to make the ECT more effective as they craft a future strategic plan. Additional meetings were held Wednesday evening in Brownsville and Thursday afternoon at the Tryon Library.
In November 2020, 61% of participating voters in Escambia County supported the creation of the Children’s Trust to be funded by an increase in ad valorem taxes of up to a maximum of 0.5 mil. The Children’s Trust will provide early childhood education, safety, developmental, preventative, health, and well-being services, including after school and summer enrichment programs.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
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6 Responses to “Escambia Children’s Trust Holds Town Hall Meeting In Molino”
https://escambiachildrenstrust.org/meetings/
Meetings that are left which are slim to none but more should be added
VOTE!
The man who formed the political committee to push for the Escambia Children’s Trust lives in Santa Rosa County. He’s not paying the new property tax. The people who donated to the political committee to pay for the political persuasion campaign are among the richest and most powerful people in this and Santa Rosa County too. Many people who donated stand to benefit because if their group gets money from the trust that almost certainly will lead to a larger staff and a salary increase for them. An interesting study would be to see who made out at the five year mark. The trust is not co-located with Escambia County and refused to be moved into a county community center. The trust leases offices space at Pensacola State College. In truth, voters didn’t know what they were voting for or against. Commissioners are most to blame. They had a choice. They could have continued to fund children’s services using the regular budget process. In fact, they still do so there is now a duplication of effort. State law also would have allowed the BCC to create a “dependent” special district ensuring accountability of elected officials. Instead, the BCC voted to take the “independent” special district route. As a result, the people involved are not accountable to the public. The tax bill for the trust is more than we pay for the library. Commissioner Barry did it to you folks up there in North County. You can thank him at election time. By the way, the BCC can vote to let the public vote to abolish the trust and lower taxes.
How would someone know prior to this meeting. Was this open for the public to attend?
I would like to know how many of the 61%that voted for this tax actually pay property taxes another tax passed on to property owners !
I would like know the financials of this bureaucracy and how many actual children they have helped.