8/31/19 @ 7:09 p.m.

Below is the latest update from Emergency Management:

​While Hurricane Dorian remains a strong Category 4 storm, its potential impact on Nassau County has lessened as of the latest National Hurricane Center forecast. However, because Dorian has been a storm in a constant state of flux, Nassau County Emergency Management Director, Greg Foster has decided to continue to staff the Emergency Operations Center during the Labor Day weekend to monitor Dorian's path. Foster says, "While the news today has been encouraging, Dorian has been inconsistent. I and other members of our staff will continue to staff the EOC until we are absolutely sure Dorian no longer poses a threat to Nassau County."

8/31/19 @ 11:00 a.m.- At the Special Meeting held today at 10:30 a.m., Emergency Management Director, Greg Foster, provided an update indicating that the current models show Dorian's track as shifting north and putting the storm approximately 80 miles off shore. If Dorian stays on this path, Nassau County will still experience hurricane forced winds and rain.

​The County issued a local State of Emergency which would allow the County to file reimbursements to FEMA for time and materials used for the storm and for claiming damages caused by the storm. The State of Emergency will remain in place for 7 days however it can be lifted if/when it's determined to not be needed. County Officials are not recommending an evacuation at this time however warns those residing in Zone A, in mobile and manufactured homes, and those residing in low lying areas prone to flooding to know that they will be most affected. To view the evacuation map and locate your zone, please click here.

​If you have any questions, please contact the Emergency Operations Center at (904) 548-0900.

-Sabrina Robertson
​ County Manager's Office

8/31/19 @ 9:05 a.m. - This was cooked from Emergency Management’s FaceBook post made at 9:02 a.m.


8/31/2019 9:02 AM UPDATE
Hurricane Dorian remains a major hurricane this morning and once again has shifted from a forecast impacting mostly south Florida to a forecast moving the storm on a more northerly and easterly path along Florida's coastline. What that means for Nassau County residents is they should continue to monitor information about the storm's movement.

​Forecast models for Dorian are changing every few hours. Nassau County Emergency Management officials have plans in place for all contingencies dependent upon the storm's movement and will keep information posted on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NassauEM/, and Twitter https://twitter.com/nassauem .

8/30/19 @ 8:15 p.m. -Due to recent developments related to the storm, the County has moved the Special Meeting for tomorrow from 3:00 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. Hurricane Dorian continues to strengthen and the forecast models are rapidly changing which is making it difficult to track. 

​The Board will be declaring a local State of Emergency and will be discussing possible evacuations. The Emergency Operations Center will now be operating at a Level 1 beginning Saturday, August 31st. This will involve a full-scale activation with all emergency response and support working around the clock in 12 hour shifts to coordinate duties as outlined in the County's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). This includes representatives from local law enforcement, fire rescue, transportation, utilities, health care, animal services and more. 

​Please continue to follow updates here and through Emergency Management.

​-Sabrina Robertson
​ County Manager's Office

8/30/19 @ 4:15 p.m. - At the Special Meeting held at 3:00 p.m. today, County Manager, Mike Mullin, and Emergency Management Director, Greg Foster, provided an update from the 1:20 p.m. call with the National Hurricane Service. Every call results in a significant change from the call before as Hurricane Dorian's track continues to shift. Another Special Meeting will be held for 3:00 p.m. tomorrow at which time the Board will discuss its latest track, declaration of a local State of Emergency and possible evacuation orders.

Both the Road & Bridge and Facilities Maintenance Department will have employees answering phones through the weekend. Road & Bridge has two crews working this weekend, cleaning ditches and culverts, in preparation of the upcoming rain. They also have a crew on stand-by to address any road issues that may occur. Facilities Maintenance will be securing the historic courthouse, removing mobi mats from the beach and addressing any other issues that need to be addressed prior to the storm.

FDOT has staged pumps between Chester Road and Lofton Creek to address flooding on State Road 200 in low lying areas. They have also indicated that all construction will be temporarily suspended, all lanes will be open, and all non-essential shoulder closures will be removed.

Please check back for storm updates tomorrow.

-Sabrina Robertson
 County Manager's Office

8/30/19 @ 12:00 p.m. - The County just participated in a conference call with the State of Florida and National Hurricane Center at 11:20 a.m. Current models show the storm making landfill early next week somewhere along the Florida southeast coast as a Category 4 storm. At this current time, there are no plans for evacuation as the effects of the storm are not anticipated to be felt in Nassau until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Of course, this could change as the storm progresses so it's important for Nassau County residents to remain vigilant.

The Florida Highway Patrol will begin escorting fuel trucks to the State of Florida today. The State has  fuel tankers, additional rescue units, helicopters, utility vehicles and water search and rescue teams on stand-by and will be staging them so they are ready to respond to affected areas immediately following the storm.

Should the Hurricane stay on its current track, it is anticipated that it will turn north and travel over Northeast Florida around Wednesday or Thursday next week. At that time, we could experience hurricane forced wind gusts and long, extended periods of rain.

The County is still issuing sandbags from 7am-9pm as announced earlier this week at the following locations:

• 97177 Pogy Place, Fernandina Beach, FL (North End  Boat Ramp)
• 86142 Goodbread Rd., Yulee, FL (Yulee Sports Complex)
• 45401 Mickler Street, Callahan (Walter Boatright County Building)
• 37356 Pea Farm Rd., Hilliard, FL (Hilliard Road & Bridge Yard)

Residents will be required to fill their own bags. Both bags and shovels will be provided. Please limit bags to 25 per household.

RESIDENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE ID FOR PROOF OF RESIDENCY TO OBTAIN SANDBAGS. THIS IS BEING DONE IN AN EFFORT TO ENSURE ONLY NASSAU COUNTY RESIDENTS ARE COLLECTING SANDBAGS AS WE WANT TO HAVE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE RESIDING IN NASSAU COUNTY.

SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TODAY
The Board of County Commissioners are holding a Special Meeting at 3:00 p.m. to discuss the storm and what the County is doing to prepare. That meeting will be held in the Commission Chambers located at 96135 Nassau Place, Yulee, FL32097. It can also be viewed on our website by clicking here.

-Sabrina Robertson
 County Manager's Office

9/1/19 @ 4:20 p.m.- At the Florida Housing Coalition held in Orlando this week, Nassau County was recognized for a recent success story for a resident that received rehabilitation assistance through Nassau County's State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Program.

The SHIP Program was established by the passage of the 1992 William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Act and provides funding to local governments to produce and preserve affordable home ownership. In order to participate, counties must establish a local housing assistance program by Ordinance and develop a local housing assistance plan and housing incentive strategy. Funds are then allocated to local governments on a population based-formula. The funds are used for emergency repairs, new construction, rehabilitation, and down payment and closing cost assistance for very-low, low and moderate income families who meet all the requirements listed in Florida Statutes, Chapter 420.907, Florida Administrative Code 67-37, and Nassau County's Local Housing Assistance Plan.

The SHIP success story was shared previously with Nassau County residents on June 25, 2019. Click here to see the original story and to view the video.

The State asked counties to submit videos of their local recipients to share resident's personal experiences with the program and to spread awareness to other residents who may need assistance. We were notified on August 15th that our video was selected as one that best reflects the SHIP Program and how it changes the lives of those in need.

This couldn't have been done without the efforts of our SHIP Coordinator, Carol Gilchrist. Great job Carol!

8/29/19 @ 2:40 p.m. - The Property Appraiser's Office has modified their website to include a quick link to learn your evacuation zone. Please click here and zoom in to locate your property.

The County is continuing to monitor Hurricane Dorian. Though there are many models showing various tracks, we encourage residents to remain vigilant and to be prepared as the storm has the potential for large storm surges and strong winds, even without direct hit.


-Sabrina Robertson
 County Manager's Office

8/28/19 @ 3:30 p.m. - Sandbags will be available to Nassau County residents starting on Thursday, August 29th, from 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the following locations:

• - 97177 Pogy Place, Fernandina Beach, FL (North End  Boat Ramp)
• - 86142 Goodbread Rd., Yulee, FL (Yulee Sports Complex)
• - 45401 Mickler Street, Callahan (Walter Boatright County Building)
• - 37356 Pea Farm Rd., Hilliard, FL (Hilliard Road & Bridge Yard)

Residents will be required to fill their own bags. Both bags and shovels will be provided. Please limit bags to 25 per household.

RESIDENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE ID FOR PROOF OF RESIDENCY TO OBTAIN SANDBAGS. THIS IS BEING DONE IN AN EFFORT TO ENSURE ONLY NASSAU COUNTY RESIDENTS ARE COLLECTING SANDBAGS AS WE WANT TO HAVE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE RESIDING IN NASSAU COUNTY.

If you have any questions, please contact Nassau County Road & Bridge at (904) 530-6175.

-Sabrina Robertson
 County Manager's Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Contact:
Sabrina Robertson
Administrative Manager, County Manager’s Office
(904) 530-6010
srobertson@nassaucountyfl.com.
 
Understanding Your Proposed Tax Bill
 
Nassau County, Florida, August 28, 2019 – Last week, all Nassau County Property owners should have received their TRIM (Truth in Millage) Statements which is a notice of proposed property taxes for the 2019 tax bills to be mailed in November. We felt it would beneficial to provide an explanation to ensure every property owner has an understanding of which taxing authorities are proposing changes to the millage rate, as well as other variables that could affect the amount of taxes to be paid in 2019.
 
Below is an example of a TRIM notice for property located in the City of Fernandina Beach. In this example, the first taxing authority is the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners. If you look at column 1, you will see that Nassau County’s millage rate in 2018 was 7.4278. You will also notice in column 3 that the proposed tax rate for 2019 is also 7.4278. This indicates that the Board of County Commissioners are NOT proposing a tax increase this year.

The information reflected in Column 2 is the “Rolled Back” rate. This is the rate the Board would need to levy to generate the same amount of revenue we generated in 2018. While the Board could agree to “roll back” the millage rate, doing so could eliminate items included in the proposed 19/20 Budget including 15 new Sheriff positions, 10 new fire rescue positions, a new brush truck and tanker truck, 5 new positions for the Road Department dedicated to improving drainage across the County, among many other things. The roll back would reduce the 2019-2020 proposed budget by approximately $7 million.
 
The example shown also reflects taxes assessed by the City of Fernandina Beach since this property is located within the City limits. TRIM notices for property owners within the Towns of Callahan or Hilliard will reflect taxes assessed by those municipalities as well.  Other taxing Districts that assess taxes to all Nassau County properties include: The School Board, St Johns River Water Management District, and Florida Inland Navigation District. The columns show all taxing authorities’ 2018 adopted rates, as well as their 2019 proposed millage rates. Should you have questions about any of the taxes being assessed, you should contact each individual taxing authority to ask questions, prior to their public hearing dates which are shown on the far right of your TRIM notice.

You may also notice in the example above that the property tax assessed by the Board of County Commissioners in 2018 was $1,457.10, but that the property tax to be assessed by the Board of County Commissioners in 2019 is $1,491.84. Since the proposed millage rate is not changing, the reason for the increase to the amount being paid to Nassau County is solely due to an increase in the property’s assessed value and not by a raise in the millage rate.

Property values rise for various reasons and are controlled by State Statutes and Resolutions. Items that affect property values include home improvements, neighborhood improvements, construction of new homes nearby, and increases to the value of your land. Should you have questions about how your property was assessed you should contact the Property Appraiser’s Office at (904) 491-7300, before the deadline reflected on your TRIM Notice. Should you still feel the market value of your property has been assessed too high, you can also file a petition to the Value Adjustment Board by contacting the Clerk of Courts at (904) 548-4600.