
All three commissioners expressed concern about the county’s tight budget in terms of purchasing a property and speculating that the purchase might help get future grants to assist residents in the Rockhound Road area.
Jackson was requesting the county pay Van Jacobsen and Robert Turner $135,000 for the five-acre property, located at 5830 LCROA Road, which the two men purchased at an on-site auction June 13th, 2015, for $115,000.
Commissioner Javier Diaz moved to table the issue until staffers could research a federal program to offer tax incentives to Jacobsen and Turner if they sold the property to the county below market value.
Commissioner Joe “Oleo” Milo seconded the motion, and the motion carried.
Commissioner Linda Smrkovsky voted against the motion to table, indicating that she would like to vote down the proposed purchase.
Smrkovsky said that considering the county’s current budget, the commissioners needed to be good stewards of taxpayers’ money and she didn’t feel it was prudent to buy the property at this time.