LAUREL HILL — City leaders are unsure whether Laurel Hill will remain a city in two years. If residents wonder just what that might mean, they can send their questions to city hall.
Since 2012, Laurel Hill's status as a city has come under question. Financial inability to independently maintain roads, a top concern in the area, led to the discussion of possibly dissolving the city.
Last October, the Laurel Hill City Council tabled a motion to dissolve the city after the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity awarded a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant to help fund overlaying and repaving projects on New Ebenezer Road, 2nd Avenue and 4th Street.
This week, Councilman Larry Hendren said the dissolution discussion can continue after those roads are repaired.
"Once the grant is complete, we'd bring the dissolve issue back up again," he said.
There's one key question that residents should consider, Moneypenny said during Thursday's council meeting.
"What are our taxes doing for us?" he said. "What do the ad valorem taxes do for me?
"It is very hard to operate at the level that we're at," he said, adding that the city lacks the population base to have an adequate tax base, so revenues aren't high enough.
"We don't have enough city employees to do the work that really needs to get done, and it's hard to fund that without the tax base," Moneypenny said.
Residents can visit city hall to view a document that states what would and wouldn't happen if they vote in favor of dissolving the city, should the council send that issue to a referendum in a couple of years.
City leaders want residents to express their concerns about possible dissolution so more information can be added to that document.
Visit city hall, 8209 State Road 85, or call 652-4441 to register a concern.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: To be or not to be (a city): That is Laurel Hill's question