Should citizens be concerned about Steven Barry?

The Truth Behind Barry's Record and Actions

What has Steven Barry really done for Escambia County?

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OFFICIAL FACT CHECK

FACT #1 - Lining His Pockets With Illegal Benefits

Republican Steven Barry first voted to give himself an additional annual perk on top of his almost $100,000 salary as a part-time elected official. Then Barry took over $54,000 extra a year personally from that vote. This gave Barry a 46% overall salary increase with over $200K in a lump sum. The Circuit Court ruled this scheme of his WAS ILLEGAL.

Supporting Evidence

Was Advised it was Illegal — Steven Barry had been advised that the plan was illegal, and elected County Commissioners did not have the authority to grant themselves the benefit. He refused to heed the warning and voted to approve the plan. Even having been informed that it was likely illegal, Steven Barry still took the benefit.

Circuit Court Ruled it was Illegal — The county Comptroller and Clerk of Courts refused to approve payment for the illegal plan so Steven Barry voted to sue her. A Circuit Court Judge ruled that the plan was indeed illegal, confirming what Steven Barry and other commissioners had been warned of.

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FACT #2 - Increased Local Property Taxes ELEVEN TIMES

Although he claims to be a fiscal conservative, Republican Steven Barry voted many years in a row to increase county budget spending by over 124% to $800 million. In that same time frame, he voted eleven times to increase property taxes on citizens and local businesses.

Supporting Evidence

Tax Increase Cover-Ups — When pressed on the issue, Steven Barry frequently responds that he does not "increase the property tax rate." However, the tax rate alone does not create tax increases. The truth is that Steven Barry only once used the roll-back rate (his first year in office). Since then, Steven Barry increased property taxes eleven years in a row.

Massive Budget Increases — On Steven Barry's watch, the county budget bloated from $356 Million to nearly $800 Million.

When Citizens Were Hurting Most — Many of these property tax increases came at a time when residents were recovering from Hurricane Sally, COVID-19, and other financial hardships.

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FACT #3 - Zero Transparency

Republican Steven Barry repeatedly limits citizen comments to two minutes at public meetings and regularly cancels them, so there is no opportunity for public input. During his three terms, Steven Barry held 87 “shade” meetings, not open to the public. Neighboring Santa Rosa County has not held such a meeting since 1986.

Supporting Evidence

Negotiates in Private with NDAs — Recent negotiations for industrial warehouses at Beulah OLF-8 have been held in secret, behind closed doors and the secrecy of Non-Disclosure Agreements. Valuable citizen input will not be welcomed until the project is finalized.​

Canceled Public Budget Planning Meetings — In July 2024, he agreed to cancel all public budget planning sessions, except for a brief meeting at which citizens were not allowed to comment. Citizens had no visibility or input on how their tax dollars are spent until the final two budget meetings when everything had already been decided, and the budget was increased by 11.1% over the previous year.​

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FACT #4 - No Citizen Input

Escambia County has completed multiple master development plans with true citizen input and feedback. However, Republican Steven Barry shelved those plans, instead pursuing under-the-table side negotiations with his favored developers, making his friends millions of dollars in taxpayer money in the process.

Supporting Evidence

Favoring His Own Developers — Steven Barry works as a financial advisor for a local contractor who frequently brings business before the Board of County Commissioners. To date, this company, with Steven Barry's help, has received over $40 Million in taxpayer money from the county.

Barry spearheaded the effort to remove the protections for Agricultural lands in the north end of the county to permit more subdivisions. He, with the help of County Attorney Allison Rogers, hired an outside planner to push through this measure after Escambia County originally was defeated by a citizen challenge to this ordinance.

Beulah OLF-8 Master Plan—Escambia County spent over $1,000,000 and years developing the OLF-8 master plan with true citizen input. Since then, Steven Barry has continued entertaining offers contrary to the plan. Most recently, he has been working on what he calls "Project Dynamo," a secret project to build industrial warehouses in OLF-8.

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FACT #5 - In the Pocket of Big Real Estate Developers

In a recent report it was revealed Republican Steven Barry took tens of thousands of dollars from big developers. In fact, over half of Barry’s recent campaign contributions came from developers with projects he either voted on or will vote on. The report showed Barry also received significant funds from PACs and lobbyists.

Supporting Evidence

Barry's Campaign Finance Report — Republican Steven Barry's Q3 2023 campaign finance report shows nearly $100,000 of donations, with over half coming from real estate and developers. Many of these developers are involved in projects on which the commissioners would vote. Steven Barry frequently influenced these votes at official meetings.

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FACT #6 - Helped Developers Circumvent Land Development Code

Republican Steven Barry was able to figure out a deal for his preferred real estate developer friends, circumventing the County’s open planning process to develop local farmers’ lands into big real estate projects.

Supporting Evidence

Beulah and North Escambia have Lost much of their Agricultural Lands — Steven Barry worked with the County Attorney’s Office to craft and voted to approve a new ordinance developed secretly by a taxpayer funded outside legal planner, allowing developers to permanently convert protected agriculture and timber land for other uses without proper public input.​

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FACT #7 - Voted to Illegally Sue Private Citizens

Republican Steven Barry repeatedly voted to illegally sue private citizens and employees over the course of several years. As a result, the county was left to pay over $9 Million of taxpayer dollars to settle these illegal and frivolous lawsuits.

Supporting Evidence

County Jail Litigation —According to Escambia Clerk of Court’s Office records, the county has paid $4,181,545.90 on settlements alone since 2021 and stands to spend millions more in attorney’s fees and other costs related to ongoing litigation including over construction of the new county jail." (PNJ)

"Dr. Rayme Edler Litigation — On top of that $4.18 million, the Escambia County Commission approved a settlement on Thursday for $5 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit with former Escambia County Medical Director Dr. Rayme Edler." (PNJ)

Selover Settlement — According to the clerk’s office, Selover was paid $199,999.99 with money covered by insurance.

Just One Portion of a Case Cost nearly $1 Million in Settlement

Katherine Kenney $100K Settlements —
The commission approved a $90,000 settlement with Katherine Kenney, another former paramedic tied to the 2019 training document scandal, and then Commissioners agreed to pay her another $5,000 to cover additional legal expenses.

Edler Paid $1 Million Settlement — "Commissioners Steven Barry, Lumon May and Mike Kohler agreed to give Edler $950,000 to settle that portion of her case." (PNJ)

Against First Amendment Rights Steven Barry voted to approve litigation for a court case that was eventually ruled unconstitutional, and in violation of citizens' first amendment rights. This resulted in additional costly settlements and wasted hundreds, if not thousands of hours of valuable time of the county staff.

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