DELAND Getting Florida through the global pandemic is a top goal of lawmakers, but several long-running debates also surfaced Monday at the annual Volusia County Legislative Delegation hearing.
Calls for an internet sales tax were renewed. Vacation-rental regulations were raised. Calls for criminal-justice reform, including a second-look law, were made.
Also, annual requests for funding resurfaced. Mayors, managers and other leaders appealed for specific septic-to-sewer projects, buildings, roads, mental-health programs, affordable housing, school funding and school choice.
One of the more dramatic appeals came from Volusia County Schools interim Superintendent Carmen Balgobin, who said a $32 million funding shortfall will have a devastating impact on our schools and on the economy of Volusia County.
DAYTONA BEACH About 45% of local households spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
Close to 22% of those households are especially overburdened with housing costs, spending more than 51% of their salaries to stay in the places they call home. Daytona Beach renters are impacted most heavily, with 61% of them pouring more than a third of their earnings into keeping a roof over their heads.
With the area s median income at $64,900 for a family of four, that 30%-plus for housing cuts deeply into low-wage salaries that also have to cover everything from food to insurance to transportation. Local wages have simply not kept pace with rising rents and single-family home prices.