St. Johns County voters approved a $100 million conservation bond by a greater than 3-to-1 margin on Tuesday, Nov. 3, authorizing a new property tax to buy and preserve land.

The measure drew 110,300 votes in favor and 36,215 against, or 75.28% support, according to unofficial results with all 55 precincts reporting. Vote-by-mail ballots were only partially reported as of election night.

The bond will be repaid through a property tax capped at 0.15 mills. For a home with $300,000 in taxable value, that works out to $45 a year, according to St. Johns Citizen. A property with $500,000 in taxable value would pay $75. Taxable value is the amount remaining after applicable exemptions, not a home's market price.

The county can issue the bonds in stages rather than borrowing the full amount at once. Each issuance must be repaid within 20 years.

Cyndi Stevenson, a former state representative and county commissioner who co-chaired the St. Johns Forever campaign, told St. Johns Citizen that the county "has been struggling with the impacts of development in recent years, and it's been a source of considerable controversy, but today's vote shows that we can build common ground toward shared solutions."

Jen Lomberk, executive director of Matanzas Riverkeeper and the campaign's other co-chair, told St. Johns Citizen that voters had declared they want to protect the county.

How the money will be spent

Properties will be evaluated through the county's Land Acquisition and Management Program (LAMP), with county commissioners approving purchases from willing sellers.

LAMP had about $5 million on hand before the bond vote, according to an August report from St. Johns Community Website. The program lost its top-ranked conservation target, a 50-acre Matanzas River marsh tract, to homebuilder Ashley Homes, which paid $12 million for the parcel on July 30. The county's appraisal had come in around $6.8 million.

That loss underscored the funding gap. Commissioners had allocated $2 million to LAMP as of August, according to St. Johns Community Website. The program was also directed to pause new acquisitions while officials assessed the impact of a proposed statewide property-tax change on the county budget.

A divided commission put it on the ballot

The County Commission split on whether to send the bond question to voters. Commissioners Clay Murphy, Krista Joseph and Ann Taylor supported placing it on the ballot, according to St. Johns Citizen. Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst raised concerns about backing an additional tax and uncertainty surrounding statewide property-tax changes.

The campaign also credited conservation leader Allison DeFoor, who led North Florida Land Trust and died days before the election, according to St. Johns Citizen.

The results remain unofficial. The county election office's website noted that provisional ballots were not yet included in the totals.