The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1908-08-14
WHAT IT MEANS TO
THE TAXPAYER
A Conservative and Logical Argument
For Retaining the County
Site at TituSYille
Editor of THE FLORIDA STAR.

If is being argued through the press
by partisans of Cocoa that there is only
$40, 900 worth of county property at
Titusville, and that Cocoa either has or
will raise $40, 900, so that a change of
the county site to that place would not
involve any additional taxation. The
statement is so wide of the facts that it
will carry it's own reputation in the
minds of most taxpayers, but a con-
sentative statement of the facts may be
useful.
The county buildings at Titusville
consist of a courthouse, the clerks Of
fee, the county judges Office, and the
foundations, cement floor and walls of
the first story of the Jail recently burn
ed; also pump-hOuse, with engine and
pump, an clubhouse with plumbing, and
the county's interest in the sanitary
sewer leading from the Jail and out
buildings to the Indian River.
The courthouse lot is well fenced and
drained, and considerable county money
has been expended upon it, and some
OuthOuses are not mentioned in the
above inventory.
1t has been the policy of the County
Commissioners TO keep the valuable
records of the Clerks Office and of the
County Judges Office in separate build
ings, so that in case the courthouse was
destroyed by fire these records would
be preserved. That this policy is wise
is shown by the destruction of the rec
ords of the United States Court in
J Jacksonville when that building was
burned some ten years ago; by the de-
struction of many valuable records in
ST. Augustine when the courthouse was
destroyed by fire there, within the
memory of all of US; by the complete
wiping out of the records both of the
Circuit Court and the Probate Court in
the Jacksonville fire, and by other fires
which will occur to the reader.
When it is known that indictments
are kept in the courthouse there is al
ways a temptation to burn it. The
offices of the Clerk of the Circuit Court
and of the County Judge, in Titusville,
are both brick buildings, and the rec
ords are kept in fire-prOof vaults built
into these buildings. The buildings are
records are safer by far than if they
were put into the courthouse building.
The present courthouse at Titusville
is ample for all of the needs of the
county for years to come, and there is
no movement on foot at Titusville for
the erection of a new building, nor
could new courthouse be erected here
by increasing the taxes except in two
ways-One by imposing a special build
ing tax, and the other by issuing county
bonds. A building tax could not be i'm
posed without first advertising for 30
days that the Commissioners proposed
to consider the imposition of the tax at
meeting specified in the notice, after
hearing citizens and taxpayers as to the
lprOpriety of such increased taxation.
Such hearing and notice is especially
provided for by the last legislature of
| Florida. and as the Commissioners come
from different districts in the county
the taxpayers may rest assured that no
building tax would be imposed against
the wishes of the taxpayers.
To build a courthouse by the selling
/ of county bonds would require an cleo
ton, at which the bonds would have to
be approved by a majority Of the vO-
ters of the county. The taxpayer is
therefore pretty well secured against
increased taxation if the county seat re-
mains at Titusville.
have heard it stated on reliable au-
| thCrty, and the fact is confirmed by my
own observation, that for some years
past there has been less crime in Bre-
varG county than in any other county in
| the State of Florida, SO that the neceS-
sity for a new courthouse at Titusville
is not apparent. The court has very lit
! tie 10 DO at its terms here.
| Now as TO the value of the county
buildings: The courthouse is a large,
two-story building. its dimensions be-
inS 22X74 feet, with an ample porch OF
the front. 1t is in a good state of pres.
ervatiOn and is well painted, and at the
present prices of lumber and labor il
could not be duplicated for $4,000. II
IS valued for insurance at 81, 800.
The office Of the Clerk of the Circuit
Court cost the county 81, 334. -, and It
is worth that amount. Ii is said thai
the vault in this building could be taker
out and moved to Cocoa. but as tn,
vault is built into the building the lat
ter would have to be taken down TO re
move it, SO that the building would b,
practically a total loss. The same j.
true of the vault in the County Judge
building. This vault comprises NOR,
than half Of the building itself.
! The County Judges building cost 50,
POO, and it is worth that amount today
The water tanks, pump house an,
foundation, plumbing, and the county
Expenditure on the sanitary sewer from
the jail and outbuildings would have t,
be thrown away.
The Jail itself was built in 1892, an,
cost the county 50. 100. The steel cell
in the jail, which, by the way, were no
injured by the fire, cost the count.
Sc, 1920.
1t is admitted that these steel cell
could be taken down and moved 10 Co
Goa. so that only the cost of their tax