The Florida star. (Titusville, Fla.) 1880-1917, 1908-08-07
WHAT 1T MEANS TO
| THE TAXPAYER
Conservative and Logical AFsumN
For Retaining the County |
Site at TituSYills
,ditOr of THE FLORIDA STAR.

ditOr Of The FLORIDA STAR.
If is being argued through the pres
" partisans of Cocoa that there is on
10000 worth of county property
1tusville, and that Cocoa either has
II raise $40, 900, so that a change
Il county site to that place would nj II
in aolve any additional taxation. TIE
ST tement is so wide of the facts thai
vii carry its own reputation in he
min 5 of most taxpayers, but bn-
serva tive statement of the facts maj be
useftA
The Ncounty buildings at Titpb willie
consist Of a courthouse, the clerlSs Of
flee, the county judges Office, shd 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
Jacksonville when that building was
burned some ten years ago; by me 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 Titusvilie,
are both brick buildings, and the rec
ords are kept in fire-proof vaults built
into these buildings. The buildings are
detached from other exposures and the
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 fol
the erection of a new building, MOI
could a new courthouse be erected here
by increasing the taxes except in two
ways-one by imposing special build
] ing tax, and the other byissuing county
bonds. A building tax could not be i'm
posed without first advertising for 81
udyS THAT Tie commissioners lIOpOSSO
to consider the imposition of the tax al
meeting specified in the notice, after
hearing citizens and taxpayers as to the
propriety 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 NJ
building tax would be imposed against
the wishes of the taxpayers.
To build courthouse by the selling