FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Our hope is to drive down the scope and scale of the County government, focusing on core services of, but not limited to: Roads, Fire, Law Enforcement, Utilities, Courts.  The individual, families, businesses, civic groups, and churches will be responsible for social programs and charities.  Keeping taxes the same for a period of time and driving down costs will create a reserve used for addressing the infrastructure Alachua County has boldly neglected for so long, namely ROADS.

Schools will largely stay the same. The State has certain requirements which must be met. The students attending magnet programs will hopefully benefit from a grandfather clause included with the legislation creating Springs County. The guiding principles of our teachers will focus on teaching. Teaching is a calling. Teachers will no longer be asked to be test administrators, referees, psychologists, parents, and disciplinarians.  Parents are expected to have their children ready to learn. We will not treat schools as babysitting services.  This is a prestigious profession whose conviction and commitment to children should not be taken advantage of.  Current contracts can and should be honored at all costs.

The retirements of these professions transfer within the Florida Retirement System. There will be those who wish to remain with Alachua County. However the remaining area of Alachua County will be geographically smaller and less staff will be needed.  That being said Springs County will make an effort to retain the best and brightest for the new positions in the new territory created. The public safety communities can expect a supportive environment of professionalism where their training and expertise will be highly valued.

The roads are a “driving” issue to Springs County. People are fed up with promises. The roads are dangerous.  The Springs County gas taxes will be used for roads! They will not be diverted to Gainesville Centric pet projects anymore. As mentioned in the taxes question, the difference in taxes and costs of government will be the funding source to jump start repaving projects.  Something long overdue. All roads will be graded A,B,C We will create a prioritized resurfacing program and work a portion of each grade on an annual basis with a dedicated budgetary funding source.

We hope to make significant strides to reduce permitting. Demonstration of skill and aptitude within ones industry or profession should be, along with the public’s free market choices, the best determination of ones projected success.  The ideas of permits for things such as hairdressers, lawn services, irrigation will not be required if legally avoidable.  We will do everything we can to prevent government from standing in the way of an entrepreneur’s dream.  The public will be encouraged to highly value the economic potential for everyone the free market generates.  Government has been weaponized in some respects to keep competition from determining the best businesses. No longer will businesses use government to create barriers to entry for anyone. We hope to avoid this by preventing government from picking winners and losers through any sort of corporate welfare programs as well.  Getting government out of the way.

Churches are under attack. Church goers are under attack not because they are violent but, because they stand in the way of a Government controlled society. Our country was built on moral principle. Freedom plus morality equals freedom.  A religious way of life will be revered and not attacked in Springs County.

The entire Bill of Rights would have been more aptly described as a Bill on the Limitations of Government. Government was instituted among us to preserve our rights, not decide which rights we should have when convenient. Our constitutional rights, including the right to keep and bear arms, do not end where an emergency order begins.

NO! Government has become too expensive, too big, and too intrusive. Springs County will be largely based on individuals knowing what is best for themselves and their families. We are expected to govern ourselves, solve our own problems, and take care of our neighbors.  No longer will the government be used as leverage to pit one person or group against another. America is not great because of what government does, it is great because of what government is prevented from doing. When government takes from one to give to another it controls both.  Springs County will be the opposite. Springs will be based on free market principles not government regulation and taxes controlling you the free citizen of these United States.