... The 1992 per capita income was $18,060 in Okaloosa County? *
... Did you know that 6% of children born on this county are of low birth
weight? *
... Did you know that the graduation rate was reported as 89.60% for the 1993/94
school year? *
... Did you know that of 28,886 children enrolled in school, there were 9,189
Okaloosa County students eligible to participate in the 1993/94 Free/Reduced School Lunch
Program?** (lots of hungry kids from poor families)
... Did you know that 10.6 percent of the population is 65 years and over?*
... Did you know that in 1994, 5.5 percent of the civilian labor force of 72,892
were unemployed? *
... Did you know that the total number of Social Security recipients for
December 1993 are 21,530, retired workers 13,025, Supplementary Security Income recipients
2,175. That's 36,730 people from a total population of 163,707 for 1995 or roughly
22% of the population on fixed incomes...*
God help them if they are property owners that worked all their lives for a home only to
have it taken away because they can't pay the high taxes on it. By-the-way, those taxes also fund
extravagant pay raises for the Board of County Commissioners and County Manager,
parks, TDC's, LSD's and the little league... (did I already mention that?) And I
won't even touch the issue of the millions of dollars in TDC funds being poured into
advertisements and other lame ideas to attract more people that help crowd and pollute the
place we live in more so. Tourist, by-the-way, aren't property taxpayers, but you better
believe that they will use these parks more than the locals!
... Did you know that for all these people on
low fixed incomes, the BOCC wants to
raise the property taxes from .0066 to .2999 mills! That's 45 times the original tax
rate! That's 30 cents on the $1000, or $30 per year tax for a $100,000 property in
addition to other taxes-- for PARKS & A LITTLE LEAGUE! That's a lot of picnic
tables, balls and bats for those needy picnic-goers and little leaguers.
