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Krista Keating-Joseph has won the election for St. Johns County commissioner, District 4, with the withdrawal of write-in challenger Michael C. Lanza.
Keating-Joseph unseated incumbent Commissioner Jeremiah Blocker in the Aug. 23 primary election. That election was very close, with Keating-Joseph receiving 18,905 votes (50.23%) to Blocker’s 18,730 votes (49.77%).
Keating-Joseph recently listed some of her primary goals for when she is seated on the Board of County Commissioners.
In responding to a questionnaire from The Recorder, she said she wanted to slow down growth.
“This unacceptable rate of growth is compromising our quality of life,” she wrote.
She added, “I can say no to unbridled development and take St. Johns County back for the people who live here now.”
Keating-Joseph is a mother of five, including two Navy SEALS, a U.S. Marine and a teenager. In response to the questionnaire, she addressed the impact of growth on local education.
She wrote that she wanted to “save our children from learning in unsafe, unsecure portable classrooms (according to FDLE) and being bused to schools out of their areas. We have more developments being approved than our school system can handle.”
On a different issue, she wrote that “developers must cover the costs of infrastructure so that St. Johns County taxpayers are not stuck paying for their roads and recreational areas.”
She also said that a tree code is needed to discourage clear-cutting.
Keating-Joseph addressed the proposed one-cent sales tax, which represents a 15% increase over the current rate.
She wrote in response to an email inquiry that over 10 years, the increase would cost a family of four $4,000.
She disagreed with estimates that say tourists would pay 40% of the sales tax.
“If you look at tourist spending it is less than 20%,” she wrote.
She wrote that the tax revenue would subsidize developers and continue to promote unbridled growth. She added that, because the new tax would apply only to purchases of $5,000 or less, it would affect residents in the lower and middle classes.
Finally, she added that she wanted to put first responders first.
“They should not have to leave the county to get a pay raise,” she wrote.
