Look where Florida voters got their priorities straight

TALLAHASSEE— On Florida’s southwest coast, voters in bright-red Collier County saw something on the ballot they liked a lot more than Donald Trump.

Trump got 62% of the vote in affluent Naples.

But look closer: Afar greater percentage of voters, nearly 77%, enthusiastically endorsed Conservation Collier, a county referendum that extends a small property tax to save environmentally sensitive land. The ¼ -mill tax was first endorsed by voters in 2002 and will cost the owner of a $300,000home about $75 a year, if county commissioners approve.

The message from Collier’s non-binding referendum was repeated across the state: The people of Florida will gladly pay more to protect what’s left of their natural environment.

Ellin Goetz, a Naples landscape architect who ran the conservation effort on a shoestring, said skeptics warned her not to place a tax— even an extension of an existing tax— on the ballot in a pandemic with people losing jobs amid somuch economic misery. But it passed with flying colors.

“We understand the angst people had about taxes and a governmental entity handling their money,” Goetz toldme.

Imagine a campaign in support of anything that does not rely on money from special interests. The pro-conservation forces raised a paltry $21,000, and relied on fewer than a dozen volunteers to spread the word. Supporters avoided directmail (not that they could afford any). “Mailings turn people off,” Goetz said.

All-digital messaging on Facebook and Instagram easily got the job done. Conservation Collier’s Facebook page featured butterflies, black bears, deer and gopher tortoises flourishing in preserves paid for with past tax money. They stayed away from politicians and highlighted an endorsement from a well-known high school football coach, Bill Kramer, who emphasized how green space promotes “health and life,” a welcome message during a pandemic if ever therewas one.

The only organized resistance came from— who else?— the local Republican Party, which printed flyers urging a “No” vote. Goetz recalled seeing “MAGA types” passing out those flyers at early voting sites. But it did no good. Even most Republican voters wisely ignored the naysayers.

“Land conservation is not a partisan issue by any stretch in Florida,” said Will

Abberger of the Trust for Public Land in Tallahassee. “It’s one of the things that unites us.”

In solidly-Republican Manatee County south of St. Petersburg, voters approved a tiny property tax hike and $50 million bond programto acquire land forwater quality, wildlife and parks. It passed by 71% in a county where Trump got 58 percent of the vote.

In pro-Trump Volusia County, voters approved two conservation-related measures: a Volusia Forever bond issue to acquire sensitive land, including forwater resource protection, and environmental, cultural, historic and outdoor recreation, known as ECHO. The two measures, paid for by an existing 1⁄5 mill property tax for 20 years, passed by 76% and 72% in a county where Trump got56% of the vote.

That’s not all. Voters in eight other counties enacted or extended local option sales taxes with five of them earmarked for local school improvements. In all, sales taxes passed in eight counties: Brevard, Charlotte, Clay, Duval, Marion, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Union.

The only apparent one that failed was in rural Liberty County, where voters narrowly refused to extend a half-penny school capital outlay tax for school improvements and computers for students. That 10-year extension failed by about one-half of a percentage point.

In Walton County in the Panhandle, voters increased a tourist development tax, paid mostly by tourists and shortterm visitors. Voters in Hernando, north of Tampa, approved a property tax hike to hire and keep teachers and improve mental health services.

These are small tax hikes, overwhelmingly approved by popular votes. Goetz, who’s vice chair of the Everglades Foundation, hopes that Republicans in Tallahassee can see what’s so obvious.

“Floridians value their water and land and they understand that it has a direct impact on their quality of life,” she said.

Florida Democrats, desperate for answers and a return to relevance, should also be able to find lessons in these results.

Build consensus. Keep the message simple. Guarantee tangible results. Show how these investments will improve lives, and people are happy to pay— regardless of party. In these terribly divided times, that’s an accomplishment.