- September 7, 2024
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Who will you choose to lead the Volusia County Council for the next four years?
Candidates running for chair debated local issues and worked to earn votes at the Citizens For Ormond Beach candidates forum held at the Ormond Beach Senior Center on Wednesday, July 17. Incumbent Jeff Brower and challengers Don Burnette, Deb Denys and Randy Dye will all be on the Aug. 20 ballot for the primary election. If no candidate wins 50% of the vote, plus one, at the primary, then the top two candidates will go into a run-off in the November general election.
Brower was elected chair in 2020. He has lived in Volusia County for the majority of his life and owns a landscape construction company and organic farm in Deleon Springs. Brower is a former Volusia County lifeguard and is chair of the Indian River Lagoon Council.
"I wanted to bring some responsibility to the way we grow," Brower said. "I also was noticing that our tax system was out of control. Our property taxes go up every year and we have been successful in halting that. This year, the Volusia County Council is really close to giving you for the first time in recent history an actual tax reduction."
Burnette is the current Port Orange mayor. He has served on the Port Orange City Council since 2010, holding the mayoral office since 2016. As Port Orange has term limits, his will conclude in December. Burnette is also a lifelong Volusia County resident, and works as a loan officer with The Mortgage Firm. He served two terms as president of the Volusia League of Cities and is a member of the Florida League of Cities board of directors.
"I'm very much invested that we have the quality community, the quality county that we all want — what we all deserve," Burnette said.
Denys is a former Volusia County Councilwoman, having represented District 3 from 2012-2020, at which point she ran for County Council chair against Brower, who won the election. She is a real estate agent with Weichert Realtors and was appointed to the Florida Communities Trust by the governor.
"The selection for the County Council chair is about one issue: Leadership," Denys said. "And that's what you're going to hopefully hear a lot from tonight — why leadership and why there's been a void in the dais."
Dye is a former race car driver who owns two car dealerships in Daytona Beach. He's lived in Volusia County since 1982 and is involved with several community boards including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Volusia/Flagler Counties, Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce' and CEO Business Alliance of Team Volusia. He's also the founder of 71 MVP, an organization that raises money for local charities.
"When you figure out that Volusia County has helped me able to — and my family and my children, my grandchildren — start to experience the American Dream, you have to hope to be able to deliver that back to everybody else in Volusia County too," Dye said.
Here is how these candidates answered CFOB's questions.
Question: What do you believe is the primary problem in Volusia County and what would you do to solve it?
Burnette said the biggest issue is managing growth. Volusia County issued 727 residential permits last year, he said — trailing behind the top issuer, Daytona Beach, at over 900 permits.
"So what are we doing with that?" Burnette said. "There's an awful lot of tax revenue that's coming from those dollars. What are we doing with those dollars?"
Denys said leadership is the biggest issue, and spoke about bringing more jobs to Volusia i the manufacturing and aerospace industries.
"I believe Volusia's best days are yet ahead," she said. "I truly believe that. I can see it."
Dye said recent rapid growth put pressure on infrastructure, which needs to be improved. He also spoke about keeping local youth in the county for the future workforce, using his grandson as an example.
"I want him to grow up here," he said. "I want him to go to school here. I want him to go to college and I want him to come back and have an opportunity ... to do the same thing I got to do."
Brower said growth, water quality and taxes — all related to overdevelopment, he said.
"We have to deal with growth," Brower said. "If we deal with that one thing, we will deal with water and taxes at the same time. ... We have to change our current development pattern because what we're doing as far as coming in, clear-cutting property, draining the wetlands, paving it over, putting houses, flooding all the neighborhoods around it, is not working."
Question: What are your priorities on how the beach is used?
Denys praised the council's recent decision to charge non-residents to pay at off-beach parking lots starting 2025. As for having dogs on the beach, referencing the recent pilot program launched in Ormond last year, Denys said her area of the county would not want to see that pilot program area expand. Restoring beach driving to the Main Street area in Daytona Beach? Denys said the federal take permit could be at stake.
"Right now, we have a beautiful beach," Denys said. "I support the direction the council is going."
Dye said the priority is to preserve the beach — keeping it safe and healthy. Today's usage of the beach, he said, with its dog-friendly pilot program and beach driving areas, is the most diverse it's been.
"I don't really believe there's any point in trying to change any of that," Dye said.
Brower said the beach is the county's main economic driver and that the current County Council has been proactive and successful in preserving the beach.
"We're also going to remove the charge that you pay at next month's County Council meeting for getting on the beach because you already pay for that in your property taxes," Brower said. "You shouldn't pay for it twice."
Burnette said beach erosion is a problem the county is facing, and one that it has to work with the coastal cities to address. When it comes to the county's new off-beach paid parking program, Burnette said he worried that would crowd the beach further as visitors will opt to park there instead for the same price. A rate adjustment for beach tolls will be needed.
"So we need to charge non-residents for off-beach parking, but we need to not incentivize them to go on the beach and use up our space," Burnette said.
Question: Does the allocation of $10 million of state funds for the relocation of Belvedere Terminals' proposed fuel farm solve the problem?
Dye said he would like to hope it resolves the issue, but the problem is that Belvedere Terminals is not responding to the county. The fuel farm should not be located in an area close to residents and recreational facilities, he said.
"It's not good enough just to figure out how to move it from Ormond Beach," Dye said. "It's got to be something that – whatever it takes to move it away from people, period."
Brower said he wished he could tell the public that Belvedere will relocate the project, but they have gone silent.
"Honestly, I don't want it anywhere in Volusia County," he said. "Belvedere has never built doggone thing. I don't want them building a fuel storage facility in our county as a their first attempt."
Burnette said the fuel terminal isn't going away anytime soon. He said this was because there is a moratorium in place — however, the County Council voted 5-2 in February against the moratorium, which Brower corrected Burnette about later in the forum. Burnette said he appreciated the governor slated the funds but that there needs to be accountability for the lack of awareness of the project on the County Council, who discovered Belvedere Terminals' proposal in August 2023.
"Do I hope the $10 million makes a difference? Yes, absolutely," Burnette said. "Nobody knows though."
Denys said Belvedere Terminals has gone radio silent — but it is an election year. The issue has been mishandled since "Day One," she said.
"$10 million to move it? I don't know, they've got the railroad right there," Denys said. "That is going to be up to them to decide, but again, the issue at the beginning was, is, leadership."
Question: Do you support extending the ReGrow the Loop program?
It was a unanimous yes from all candidates.
"It's a great program," Brower said. "It's working well and I would like it to go countywide."
Burnette said the county needs to be acquiring as much land for preservation as possible.
"Land preservation is something that's important so that we can have balance," Burnette said.
Denys said a strong leader also works to leverage dollars for land preservation and acquisition efforts.
"Let's grow it but let's not use dollar-for-dollar and save our green," she said.
Dye said the county needs to make sure that the Loop is protected for generations to come and the the program is efficient.
"How can we make sure we leverage it? How can we make sure that it goes on forever?" Dye said.
Question: What are your budgetary priorities?
If elected, Burnette said he'd like to look at improving the county's ambulance transport system, which he said has "been clearly broken for 10 years." The city of Port Orange has its own ambulance and it answers calls in Ormond Beach to Orange City.
"We know everything doesn't cost what it did a few years ago," Burnette said. "We know things are going to cost a little bit more. How we apply those dollars that makes sense is just as important."
Denys said the council's move to proceed with some partial rollback millage rates was "excellent," but that the county is still burdened by issues like SunRail. So, she was in favor of the council's decision to increase the General Fund property tax rate by 0.0855 mills to bring in $5 million more in tax revenue for roads.
"That is a great first step," she said.
Dye said he is fiscal conservative person. The county's $1.2 billion budget is a lot of money, and he'd like to ensure it's being used for what the people want.
"I think we've got to go back to the core responsibilities of government, fulfill the basic fundamental responsibilities," Dye said.
Brower said one of his priorities for the budget has always been to reduce property taxes. Though the council voted 4-3 to seek an increase to the General Fund millage rate, Brower said they will "win that battle." He also mentioned wage increases for law enforcement officers and improving work environments for firefighters and EMS.
Question: What do you propose to do to improve affordable housing in our community?
Denys mentioned the addition of 80 units of affordable housing for seniors in New Smyrna Beach as an example that such projects are achievable. She also mentioned the Live Local Act and its impact on Home Rule.
"If you don't like it, you can't go to your city council, you can't go to your county council," she said.
Dye said housing is driven by the market. The more people that move to the area and need housing, the higher the price for housing goes. Affordable housing is critical, but he doesn't believe it's solely a government problem.
"Public-private partnerships are probably the way that I would try to solve the problem," Dye said.
Brower said the council and county staff have been working to instate a good affordable housing program. The county does have land that can be used for affordable housing, he added.
"We don't have to wait for any other government to zone small houses and affordable houses in areas where they've never been left before and we will create a whole new, incremental development industry with new jobs by doing that," Brower said.
Burnette said they are looking at the impacts of a national problem at the local level. There are a lot of programs to help the most destitute, but there are a lot of workers that can't afford housing, he said.
"We need to get people to own their homes," Burnette said. "Renting is a vicious cycle. The more government assistance we give to renting, the more we're going to have to give it down the road. Rents never go down. Rents never go away."
