FORT WALTON BEACH — Hoisting their signs high, a dozen or so protestors outside Okaloosa County’s Water and Sewer Administration Building made their displeasure known Thursday of officials considering increasing property and gas taxes.
Carl Bane of the North Okaloosa Chapter of the Panhandle Patriots organized the protest before commissioners met for a budget workshop later that evening.
County commissioners ran on a ticket of being fiscally responsible Republicans, but when faced with more demands from their departments they immediately proposed raising taxes, Bane said.
“Is that the right thing to do on the ticket they ran on?” he asked.
An employee can’t simply demand more money from his or her boss, Bane said. The government needs to understand they can’t do it, either, he said.
Bryan Phillipson of Mary Esther said he has cut his personal budget in the face of furloughs from the federal government.
“We all have to tighten our belt, including the government,” Phillipson said.
The county needs to live within its means, added Terry Shoemaker of Mary Esther, who held a sign exhorting the government to do just that.
“We don’t want to become another Detroit,” Shoemaker said.
People can affect their local government, Shoemaker said. They can’t be ignored.
“If not us, who?”
Another protest is planned for 5 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Water and Sewer Administration Building on Lewis Turner Boulevard.