(ESCAMBIA COUNTY) --- Escambia County voters will be asked again to approve the one-cent Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) in November.
The Board of County Commissioners passed the ordinance at the July 23 meeting with little public comment during the quick public hearing. Francesca Yabrian took the podium first, saying Escambia County residents have supported this tax since 1992.
What she did not say was that locals do not just support the tax. Visitors and tourists add to the tax when in town making purchases. The tax is solely used for long-term projects that benefit the community, including public safety and drainage.
“This tax is not a new tax; it is a longstanding locally improved investment fund that has funded ambulances, fire trucks and roads, drains and critical public infrastructure,” Yabrian said.
(Photo: Francesca Yabrian, who works in emergency management, said the LOST tax is imperative to maintaining public safety, infrastructure)
Noting her career in emergency operations and the importance of public safety, Yabrian said, "we must be honest: firefighters, trucks, ambulances, drainage systems, and emergency facilities do not pay for themselves.”
Yabrian recalled 9/11, noting local governments must always be prepared, keeping public safety foremost, and the tax must “remain dedicated to genuine community needs," and not for political gain with corporations.
“Let the people follow the dollar,” Yabrian said.
Jacob Rockwell said, “he fully supports it going on the ballot along with the ECT (Escambia Children’s Trust) every other tax we have around here.” Rockwell said every taxing authority raised taxes in 2025, county and school board.
(Photo: Resident Jacob Rockwell)
“I think the ECT was the only one who didn’t,” Rockwell said.
Speaking of emergency services, Rockwell reminded the board of the tax rise to pay firefighters, which, according to Rockwell, “mainly had to do with the overdevelopment area.”
According to Rockwell, developers need to begin paying impact fees to offset the tax burden, and “we shouldn’t be raising taxes on our homes and our citizens because a developer drives by a field and decides to put up 2,000 homes in it.”
Rockwell said the Bay Center also “ropes into” taxes, with upgrades inevitably resulting in construction bonds that will require the county to borrow against taxes.
“I think we should sell the Bay Center completely,” Rockwell said. “Get it off our books.”
Rockwell used his own tax bill to prove his point, bringing up his first home purchase in 2018.
“It’s gone up nearly sixty percent since that time,” Rockwell said. “Eight years, sixty percent gone up due to taxes and insurance, that’s one of the reasons I come up here.”
Rockwell ended by noting the earlier Community Redevelopment Agency Budget meeting where commissioners discussed “slashing” from the budget, and encouraged them to keep their word. Larry Downs Jr. followed Rockwell, noting he too is “fed up with these taxes,” and agrees the Bay Center should be sold.
“We should not be in the entertainment business,” Downs. Jr. told commissioners. “We as citizens should, but the government should not be.”
(Photo: Resident Larry Downs Jr., suggests the LOST Sales Tax sunset expire and be taken off the ballot)
Downs Jr. had another option than the ballot. Downs Jr. confirmed with Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger that if LOST does not go on the ballot and the sunset expires, it would dissolve.
“That’s what I am for; let’s do that,” Downs Jr. said. “Just let it sunset.”
The only comment on the tax was from the three citizens, with commissioners raising their hands for approval without discussion.
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