GIFFORD — A proposed tax to help fund improvements to the 22-year-old Gifford Community Center won no support from the Board of County Commissioners Tuesday, but commissioners appear likely to support finding money elsewhere to renovate and improve the center.
Following procedure already in place, the commissioners continued the public hearing on the proposed tax to their Dec. 15 board meeting. However, they each said during discussion Tuesday that they would not support the tax. County Administrator Joe Baird presented an alternative to commissioners, recommending that the county use monies from the general fund to fix up the aging center — an expense estimated at $180,000.
“I don’t like increasing my general fund in hard times,” Baird said, though he has recommended using those funds for the project.
When the county would have a plan regarding funding the improvements to the center has not been set, though commissioners might discuss it again on Dec. 15.
Godfrey Gipson, executive director of the Gifford Community Center, said it was never the community’s intent to burden the residents or the commercial business owners with a tax when they approached the county about funding the renovations.
“The community has tried to be self-sufficient,” Gipson told commissioners, explaining that they routinely have fund-raisers and rely on volunteers to keep the center going. “This is too much.”
He described some of the needs the center has, including replacing air conditioning units that are original with the building.
“I’ve just got my fingers crossed” in the summertime that the air conditioners stay running, Gipson said.
Baird suggested that the county consider the Gifford Community Center’s request for funding as a renovation project that could use funds from the county’s optional sales tax and infrastructure tax and other such sources.
County leaders and representatives from the Gifford Progressive Civic League had discussed creating a special taxing district to generate the approximately $180,000 needed to upgrade the center.
The taxing district would have included commercial properties, according to what the county was proposing. The possibility of having to pay a tax for a community center drew opposition from the area’s business owners.
“You’ve pushed my hot button,” said a representative from Riverfront Packing Co., located in Gifford. He continued to say that the five fresh fruit packers in the area pay a combined $1 million or more in annual taxes and hire a total of about 1,000 employees.
“Every cotton-picking day is a challenge,” said Jeff Thompson, developer of Indian River Industrial Center.
Commissioners agreed that the burden should not be placed on commercial property owners, but instead should be absorbed by the county as the center is used by more than Gifford residents.