Article: Could South Walton become its own municipality?
A Better South Walton is taking its case for incorporation to the people.
Armed with a 23-page feasibility study and a summary of what a municipal charter might look like, the advocacy group embarks this week on a mission to sell cityhood to Walton County residents living between Choctawhatchee Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
“I believe so intensely, in my soul, that this is right. I’m willing to talk to anyone for as long as it takes,” said Dave Rauschkolb, vice president of the eight-member committee spearheading the drive to incorporate.
A Better South Walton has scheduled public hearings for 5:30 p.m., Tuesday at the Rosemary Beach Town Hall and 5:30 p.m., Thursday at 560 Grand Boulevard, Suite 101, in Miramar Beach.
Speakers will have some intriguing highlights to hit.
One of the biggest, Rauschkolb said, is a Florida League of Cities opinion that a city of South Walton would be, on the day of its birth, the most fiscally sound municipality in the state.
Another is that city planners believe the new government can get by, at least in the short term, without assessing new property taxes.
