ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — St. Johns County commissioners unanimously voted to give the city of St. Augustine four times the amount of funding for the Nights of Lights that it usually provides every year.
But St. Augustine leaders say it’s still not enough to meet their needs.
The city of St. Augustine requested about $1.2 million from the county this year to help fund the next Nights of Lights season, which is $1 million more than the $200,000 the city normally gets every year. During today’s St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners meeting, the city told the county the extra money would go toward things like more porta-potties and free parking shuttle services.
The county told the city it can legally only provide up to $850,000 for the Nights of Lights, which is the amount commissioners voted to approve for the event. The county said it pulls its Nights of Lights funding from a pot of its Tourism Development Fund dedicated to “special uses” such as the holiday event, and it can’t, legally, provide more than that amount.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
This puts the city of St. Augustine about $350,000 short of what it had asked for. Action News Jax found that around $250,000 of that money was requested for renting and delivering porta-potties to the city.
“We’ll need to find some extra money for bathrooms, that’s for sure,” said David Birchim, the city manager for St. Augustine.
Birchim tells Action News Jax the city only has 66 public bathrooms, which he says is far fewer than the number needed to support the number of people walking around downtown during the Nights of Lights. Birchim said local businesses had to open up their bathrooms last year to pick up the slack, which isn’t something the city wants to have happen again.
“We’re trying to find a better solution until we have permanent public bathrooms built,” Birchim said.
The city hasn’t yet shared where it may be able to get the extra money it needs for the Nights of Lights, but tells Action News Jax it’s planning to go over ways to find more funding during its city commission meeting scheduled for September 22nd.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
