News Archive

The upcoming Florida Back to School Sales Tax Holiday will help people provide school supplies for students preparing for the 2023-24 school year.

Central Moloney Inc., which manufactures distribution transformers and transformer components, will be the first tenant at the Shoal River Ranch industrial gigasite, One Okaloosa Economic Development Council Executive Director Nathan Sparks announced on July 13.

Cara Marion, who is a mother and Air Force veteran who lives in Niceville, is helping establish a “Moms for Liberty” chapter in Okaloosa County to oppose “anything that infringes on our liberty and freedoms,” including sexually explicit books found in public schools.

In the new budget year that starts on Oct. 1, Crestview’s residential and commercial water and sewer customers might begin seeing a 15% increase in their monthly utility bills to help pay for proposed water and sewer infrastructure upgrades.

Casting Crowns, Tauren Wells, for KING & COUNTRY, and Passion will join evangelist Scott Dawson on stage for UNITE: Gulf Coast beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 21-22, at the Pensacola Bay Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
To reserve free tickets or reserve tickets and donate to the UNITE Movement, go to unitesdea.org.

The Okaloosa County School District plans to host an Educational Support Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25.

Okaloosa County’s recommended fiscal year 2023-2024 budget calls for maintaining the countywide millage rate of 3.83 mills, which has been in place since FY 2018.

County Administrator John Hofstad shared information on the millage rate and the county’s proposed FY ’24 budget at the County Commission’s budget review workshop on July 11. The workshop was held in the commission chambers at the County Courthouse in Crestview.

Laurel Hill’s existing property tax rate of 3.5 mills should remain in place for the next budget year, the Laurel Hill City Council unanimously agreed on July 6.
The rate of 3.5 mills per $1,000 of taxable property is equal to $350 per $100,000 of property value.

To address the overcapacity of traditional elementary and middle schools in Crestview, the Okaloosa County School District plans to open a new K-8 school next to the Southwest Crestview Bypass in the fall of 2026.

Currently, while design work continues on that future school, construction is progressing on many other district projects, including classroom additions at Crestview High School and the K-12 Laurel Hill School.

Bob DeMauro, the fish hatchery manager at the Blackwater Fisheries Research & Development Center near Holt, is eager to see the latest results of the center’s ongoing efforts to replenish the Chipola River’s population of shoal bass.