Parks wins easily, voters approve school-safety tax

Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks easily won a third four-year term Tuesday, defeating an opponent who pledged to work to limit commissioners to serving two terms, and voters approved a special tax to bolster school safety.

“I think that term limits sound real easy, but it’s not the panacea for what is wrong with government,” said Parks, an environmental and land-use planning consultant, after topping fellow Republican Tad Schnaufer, an Army National Guard captain, with 72 percent of the vote in an open primary. “The right way to fix that is to become more involved and more participatory in government at all levels.”

The school safety tax of 75 cents for each $1,000 of taxable property value carried with 56 percent of the vote. The tax kicks in July 1 and will remain in place for four years to help pay for armed guards, mental-health counseling and other safety measures sparked by security concerns arising from the Feb. 14 mass school shooting in Parkland. Someone who owns a home with a taxable value of $100,000 after homestead exemptions will pay an year in taxes.

Also Tuesday, Lake County School Board members Stephanie Luke and Bill Mathias won their reelection bids handily. Luke, with 78 percent of the vote, earned a second term over Peter Tarby. Mathias, who was first elected in 2012, defeated Mike Sykes with 61 percent in a head-to-head contest after a third candidate, Perry Berkowitz, was booted from the ballot for failing to comply with Florida’s resign-to-run law.

Mathias, who owns a company that designs and installs commercial additional $75 a kitchens, said voters like his background as a businessman and approve of the district’s trajectory.

“Looking at my results and Stephanie Luke’s results, the voters decided if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said. “The course that we’re on right now is so positive, with so many good things going on, I think the public wants us to carry on.”

Voters chose Clerk of Courts Gary Cooney over retired Tavares police lieutenant Jason Paynter in an open Republican primary to serve the remaining two years of former clerk Neil Kelly’s term. Cooney garnered 60 percent of the vote.