VOLUME 5 ISSUE 10
$2
Live Oak International
MARCH 8 - MARCH 14, 2024
Pg B3
Impact fees for schools approved After 13-year hiatus, developers will once again pay fees to offset costs of growth. By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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he battle to reinstate school impact fees has finally come to a close after nearly two years of tireless backing from the Marion County School Board.
The Marion County Commission voted yes on Tuesday to reinstate impact fees—one-time payments made by developers for each new home built to support the cost of building new schools. The county suspended impact fees in 2011 during the economic recession.
School district staff has been working on finding a way to reinstate the fees since May 2022, when the school board was presented with updated statistics on student population growth and many schools’ issues with reaching capacity due to lack of space. School Board Chair Nancy
Thrower spoke before county commissioners before their vote, urging them to approve the impact fee ordinance because it is in the best interest of the county’s schools. “Enrollment in Marion County Public Schools is at an all-time high with new students
enrolling daily, thus creating the urgent need to build more schools and expand capacity at existing schools,” she said. After an extensive study, the consulting firm Benesch recommended the school board ask the commissioners See Impact, page A2
The deterioration of once-great schools Manufacturing milestone
“We would love to see some space that reflects the pride we have for our school. We’d love to be able to give our students all of the things that we want for them.” Sarah Schrader
Sparr Elementary Assistant Principal
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
T
he aviation program at Sparr Elementary is meant to be the school’s pride and joy, an innovative program that will bring the school magnet status next year. Due to the aging school’s lack of space, however, the program is housed in a cramped room that doubles as a storage unit. In an effort to show just how much financial help many schools across the district need, Marion County Public Schools staff invited guests to tour nine schools last week, one of which was Sparr Elementary, a hub of learning for grades pre-K through fifth nestled in the rural northern area of the county. Without concrete funding methods, and with higher priorities such as building two new elementary schools in the crowded southwest portion of the county, a plan to help Sparr Elementary cannot be made for
certain now, said Barbara Dobbins, executive director of Operations and Emergency Management. The school district has pursued bringing back two funding sources that could go toward capital projects, such as building Shaun Duncan, the supervisor of Technical Services for Marion County Public Schools, new schools and shows a sample of galvanized water pipes that are rusting away in the walls and underneath the school during a Marion County Public Schools tour of Sparr Elementary constructing School in Sparr on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024. new wings to existing schools: reinstating school impact fees and increasing students each type of home will generate. the local-option sales tax. The county commission approved an Impact fees are one-time payments made ordinance on Tuesday to reinstate impact by developers for each home they build fees, which had been suspended since 2011 in order to offset the cost of new schools. due to the recession. The fees are assessed based on how many See Sparr, page A4
Honoring Leo
K-9 units from around the state were in Ocala on Monday to honor the sacrifice of the MCSO canine officer who died in the line of duty. By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
A Tynlee Tortora, 14, months, the daughter of K-9 Cpl. Justin Tortora, kisses a photo of K-9 Leo as she is held by her grandmother, Sangi Blair, during a memorial service for K-9 Leo at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Ocala on Monday, March 4, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
memorial service was held Monday for Marion County Sheriff ’s Office K-9 officer Leo, who was fatally wounded while protecting deputies when an armed suspect opened fired on them Feb 17 in east Marion County. MCSO Lt. Paul Bloom opened the ceremony calling it a “solemn day” and saying Leo’s life was “cut short but was not short on loyalty and bravery.” Leo’s handler, MCSO Cpl. Justin Tortora, said he had trained for thousands of hours to face the person others wouldn’t want to face and that his K-9 partner saved lives. “Because of Leo, three men
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went home that day,” Tortora said. Tortora said on the day of the shooting, “We were where we were supposed to be,” protecting people from harm. He called Leo’s action “the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.” Leo, age 4 ½, is a Malinois who served with MCSO for three and a half years. He was the first MCSO K-9 to be killed in the line of duty, said Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, Woods said a section in the central area of the MCSO Operations Center parking lot where the ceremony was held, and flagpoles stand, will be made into the MCSO K-9 Memorial. “This will be hallowed ground now,” Woods said of the area. Flags there were at half-staff for the memorial. See K-9 Leo, page A5
E-ONE is celebrating 50 years of producing fire emergency vehicles, rescue trucks, aerial fire trucks, rescue pumpers and custom fire apparatus.
A cake with different E-ONE firetrucks from different years is shown during the 50 Years of E-ONE celebration at E-ONE in Ocala on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
By Susan Smiley-Height susan@magnoliamediaco.com
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he E-ONE campus in southwest Ocala was a festive site on Wednesday, March 6, for the 50th anniversary celebration of the fire truck manufacturer, complete with speeches and a cake. E-ONE is a subsidiary of REV Group Inc. The anniversary celebration, which is set to span a year, includes components such as honoring longtime customers and employees, special events showcasing new deliveries of fire trucks, the unveiling of a new fire truck badge that will be applied on all trucks delivered this year, a commemorative challenge coin and more. The March 6 event in Ocala included a ceremony for the first 50th anniversary-badged pumper truck coming off the production line, which is bound for Pasco County Fire Rescue, and recognition of fire departments statewide. In showing how things have changed over the years, one of the company’s first fire trucks, from 1984, was on display, along with an original invoice in the amount of $123,771. The price tag for the new truck bound for Pasco County is priced at $900,000. Many officials were on hand See 50 years, page A6
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