Ron Sanchez For County Commissioner, District 2

The vision of our future to me looked really bleak if changes were not put into action as soon as possible because the things that were built would have to be operating with staff and more county dollars re-occurring each year. I knew that would be impossible to do.

I asked staff to cut $26 million dollars from the 2008 budget, which we had begun to work on, and to come back with anything that we could cut from the current budget to help us survive the on coming economic down turn. On top of this I also wanted your tax bill to come down. By the way, our county budget for 2010 will be around $611 million dollars and 2011 will bring us a figure of around $575 million dollars. $158 million dollars less than the figure of $733 million dollars mentioned above.

We also increased our reserve funds almost $20 million dollars to offset the possible hit we would receive from Referendum One and a state mandated increase to our OPEC fund to cover retirement obligations. They both came and thank God we were ready for them. That cost us over $17 million dollars that we had the money to cover. We cut some other items and cancelled the hiring of 47 new positions the previous board had approved. Had we not prepared for this in advance, your county would have been in trouble a year or two earlier like most other counties in our state. Libraries, recreation, basic services would have had to be drastically reduced, some even closed.

We have also dealt with one of the same things you are dealing with as property owners. For you it is much more serious. Our income is largely based on the value of properties and I am sure that I don’t need to explain this to you. We still have over 60,000 homes approved but not yet built in our county. Can you image what it would be like now if for the last four years we would have had that to deal with? With a deficit infrastructure and another half million trips on our roads, another 150,000 children in our school system and an additional 75,000 children in recreational programs, could we have caught up on anything?

During my last campaign I said “Let’s bring St. Johns County back to the people”! That has been done and now I say “MOVING AHEAD FOR A SECURE FUTURE” and together we will do that also.

Ronald F. Sanchez

Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners

St John’s County, Florida


When I started my term in November of 2006 I was aware of the hard times that were ahead for all of us. St. Johns County had gone through one of the fastest growth periods in our history and we had too much growth. Real estate values were going upward constantly. The credit market was already deregulated and was full of greed. It had to collapse and it did. My term started in November of 2006 and the county budget had grown to $733 million dollars for the year 2007.In three income categories we were bonded out to the year 2027. Over $70 million dollars of this had been borrowed during the previous four years. Some spent on items that were needed, some totally wasted. This was an attempt to catch up on some infrastructure needs that should have been done before more development was approved. We still owed the state a promise to complete Hwy2209 from Race Track Road to Hwy208. This agreement was to free up the level of service on I95 so that the county could approve more development. There is still over $100 million of that project not built and we have a time limit to complete the road. It has been extended twice.	» Home » Biography » The Commissioner's Statement » Board Memberships » In Support Of » Moving Forward With Ron » Contribute/Donate To The Campaign » Contact
The vision of our future to me looked really bleak if changes were not put into action as soon as possible because the things that were built would have to be operating with staff and more county dollars re-occurring each year. I knew that would be impossible to do. I asked staff to cut $26 million dollars from the 2008 budget, which we had begun to work on, and to come back with anything that we could cut from the current budget to help us survive the on coming economic down turn. On top of this I also wanted your tax bill to come down. By the way, our county budget for 2010 will be around $611 million dollars and 2011 will bring us a figure of around $575 million dollars. $158 million dollars less than the figure of $733 million dollars mentioned above. We also increased our reserve funds almost $20 million dollars to offset the possible hit we would receive from Referendum One and a state mandated increase to our OPEC fund to cover retirement obligations. They both came and thank God we were ready for them. That cost us over $17 million dollars that we had the money to cover. We cut some other items and cancelled the hiring of 47 new positions the previous board had approved. Had we not prepared for this in advance, your county would have been in trouble a year or two earlier like most other counties in our state. Libraries, recreation, basic services would have had to be drastically reduced, some even closed. We have also dealt with one of the same things you are dealing with as property owners. For you it is much more serious. Our income is largely based on the value of properties and I am sure that I don’t need to explain this to you. We still have over 60,000 homes approved but not yet built in our county. Can you image what it would be like now if for the last four years we would have had that to deal with? With a deficit infrastructure and another half million trips on our roads, another 150,000 children in our school system and an additional 75,000 children in recreational programs, could we have caught up on anything? During my last campaign I said “Let’s bring St. Johns County back to the people”! That has been done and now I say “MOVING AHEAD FOR A SECURE FUTURE” and together we will do that also. Ronald F. Sanchez Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners St John’s County, Florida