By Sean Parks, Lake County Commissioners
The sun rose on January 1, 2021 and so my family and I faithfully embarked on our annual New Year’s Day hike. This year we chose the Green Mountain Scenic Overlook and Lake Apopka Loop Trail, a beautiful hike in the “mountainous” part of Florida with lots of color changes from the Hickory and Florida Red Maple trees. While this family tradition is always a meaningful bonding experience, it also reminded me this day of how blessed I am to live in Lake County and the central Florida region.
I am honored to serve you as a Lake County Commissioner, a role I take with humility, passion, and hard work. Like it is in one’s personal life, or a business, setting goals is key to success for Lake County. This Holiday season I have reflected on what I believe are some important new and revived goals and areas of focus for community in 2021.
Strategic Plan – Any good business has a long-term strategic plan that is periodically refreshed and updated. A great organization is constantly examining relevancy and areas for improvement. Its time for Lake County to take a detailed look at our goals, objectives and policies for economic prosperity and constituent support. I am super excited to have an opportunity to begin this process with my fellow Commissioners at our first BCC retreat in early February.
Budget – A chief objective must be to build the County’s budget reserves up. We are hovering around 10 percent of the total budget and our Net Position has slightly decreased in recent years. It will be important for the BCC to make a 2- and 5-year budget plan to assist us in building the reserves back up to at least 16 percent, ideally 20 percent. A healthy reserve buffers the taxpayer during difficult times and ensures our County is less reliant on the State and Federal government for operational costs. Lake County has the lowest property taxes in the region, and I expect it to stay that way for the coming years.
Partnerships with Cities – The 14 cities of Lake County give our community unique character. The County can provide services to the Cities using an economy of scale that serves the taxpayer, while the cities can provide a unique quality of life and amenities the County cannot. In post-COVID-19 2021, it is going to be important that the Cities and County work together.
Growth Management – Growth is good if it creates wealth for the community. The development pattern in Lake County often has placed us in a precarious position. In some instances, the liabilities of maintaining roads and providing other services over 25-years exceeds the 25-year revenue capacity of a district or area within the county or a city. It is time to ask new development to demonstrate fiscal sustainability while promoting prosperity and conserving our environment.
Quality of Life – Trails are something almost everyone in the County can use whether it be an 80-year-old grandparent, young children, or competitive runner or cyclist. Trails bring money into our community and create wealth because trails are a feature of communities desired by entrepreneurs and high wage companies. It is important in 2021 to develop a funding plan for trails. Otherwise, the County’s Trails Master Plan will be mostly a dream taking 20+ years to construct the programmed trails as envisioned by the residents and business community of our County.
Attainable Housing – 2020 proved to be quite a successful year for Attainable Housing in Lake County. The Countywide Strategic Plan for attainable housing was developed by the business community and adopted by the County. In 2021 it will be important for all the cities to similarly adopt this plan. The strategic plan called for the establishment of the Coalition for Housing and Economic Development (CHED) a non-profit organization to steer the action plan and assist with coordinating with the cities. In 2021, it’s important the CHED is established and working towards the Plan’s goals.
Roads – There are several new roads planned, the problem being, how to pay for them in a fair and balanced manner. Existing residents should not subsidize new growth, but how do we catch-up from the rapid growth of the 1990’s and early 2000’s? In Lake County, the cost to build roads is among the least expensive in all central Florida. In 2021, the BCC should look to the portfolio of options already available including Municipal Benefit Districts and user fees to fund road projects while insisting new development pay the entire cost to build roads serving their development.
Water Quality – Water, our most invaluable resource is at risk as we continue to rapidly grow. The BCC should take steps to implement nutrient reduction performance criteria for on-site sewage disposal systems within specific water basins including the Green Swamp. Additionally, the County should implement stronger Low-Impact Development criteria for new development to better address stormwater run-off.
The fruits of 2021 are a result of the soil sown within our community. I believe the seeds of innovation and efficiency have been planted for a better 2021 resulting in a leaner government that provides better service, more value, and enhanced quality of life.
