At a debate Thursday night, a St. Johns County commissioner said the rocky fiscal climate lends itself to approving a 1-cent sales tax increase, its revenues going to land conservation and transportation, while his opponent said it did quite the contrary.

The tax would be in place for five years, and its revenue, predicted to be about $100 million, would go toward purchasing development rights of undeveloped land to curb growth, and toward building and repairing roads to ease congestion.

Ron Sanchez, the vice chairman of the County Commission, told the roughly 20 people who attended the debate that next year, the county will face even more budget cuts because property values are predicted to keep sinking, requiring the commission to cut more services.

For example, Sanchez said the county library system had to close on Sundays to save funds.

"We will have no choice at that point of the game, and my whole thing is delivering services and especially to protect the people," he said. "That is the No. 1 responsibility of government."

The tax would alleviate cuts, giving the county a means to work on its congestion woes even in the face of a shrinking budget, Sanchez said. It would also help to keep the agricultural industry in the southwestern part of the county, he argued, by ensuring that the land purchased from the tax revenue remains in the hands of farmers and out of the hands of developers.

But Adam Guillette, the Florida director for Americans for Prosperity, a national nonpartisan group that advocates for limited government interference in economics, countered that a sales-tax increase would deter tourism and hurt residents who are already struggling.

"To think otherwise flies in the face of economic reality," Guillette said.

Some of the revenue would be used to buy development rights on undeveloped properties, such as farmland.

And when asked why government is on the business of buying private property, Sanchez said it was necessary to curb the steady development seen in northern St. Johns County.

"Since the northern part of our county is so overdeveloped, I am interested in trying to control growth," he said, "and I have learned that the best way to control growth is to get a hold of that land."

Farmers would keep their rights to farm that land or to sell it to other farmers, but it could not be developed, he said.

Guillette said that would set a "dangerous precedent" and would open the door for government to meddle with residents' property through others means.

"The more and more we get government involved in taking our property, the more and more likely it is that you're going to see them come one day and take your property whether you like it or not through imminent domain," he said.

Sanchez pointed out that the tax would have nothing to do with imminent domain and dismissed Guillette's argument as a "scare tactic."

St. Augustine Record