IT'S GONNA COST MORE TO LIVE IN POLK COUNTY

Taxes are promising to be a HUGE issue in the next couple of races for the Polk County Commission after the panel voted 4-1 Wednesday to raise property taxes as well as levy new taxes to improve roads, parks, and the county library system pending final approval in September.

If you live within one of the cities across Polk, the tax bill is expected to increase approximately 13 percent. If you're like a majority of the county's population who live in unincorporated area, the hit on your wallet would be a hefty 29 percent.

Commissioner Randy Wilkinson was the lone dissenter against the first property tax increase here in 12 years.

The breakdown on the property tax hike is that an additional $1 of every $1,000 of taxable value would pay of road construction and maintainence, an extra 75 cents of every $1,000 of taxable value would go toward park improvements in unincorporated areas of the county, and an extra 50 cents of every $1,000 of taxable value go to libraries. The latter two would only be paid by taxpayers living outside the cities, as city residents already are taxed by their municipality for parks and library services.

It drew a larger than normal crowd of about 250 people to the meeting in Bartow, with many angrily speaking against any hike and one speaker calling the commissioners "carpetbagging, tyrannical Republicans-in-name-only." All five county commissioners are Republicans.

The war is now officially on.