Escape from Palm Beach County?

Del Boca County?

Residents of West Boca often feel left out of the county. Our tax dollars flow up to West Palm Beach and we don’t get much back. Most of the good jobs politicians brag about creating are created 45 minutes away from us. Large chunks of the proposed sales tax increase would go to buildings for the Sheriff, the courts, and the school district, all up there. In 2015 the county voted to waste $150 million of our money on a baseball stadium in, of course, West Palm Beach. And it’s only for spring training.
Meanwhile we hear a lot of complaints from residents about the county failing to take care of things here. Dangerous intersections do not get improved. Panhandlers continue to annoy locals. Repeat violent offenders menace the community unafraid of the Palm Beach prosecutor.
Similar problems plague our schools. The school bus system has been a disaster. Olympic Heights has had persistent trouble with its air conditioning for years with no relief.
Few residents west of the Turnpike have been to a county meeting, nor can they name their representative to the county commission (hint – Burt Aaronson hit his term limit in 2012 so it’s not him) or the school board.
Maybe it’s time for a radical solution. Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state. It’s too big. Those of us in the southern part of the county are just too far from our government. What if we formed a new county?
County and school district meetings would be 10 minutes from home instead of 45. The Del Boca school district would be able to focus on our local concerns rather than being distracted by problems all over such a large county.
We have discussed this with friends and there are some common questions.

1. Why not just incorporate West Boca?
   This would just create another layer of government and would do nothing to get us away from the county taking our money up to West Palm Beach.
2. Where would we draw the lines?
   That’s wide open. One simple way is to use the Delray-Boynton line. It’s also possible that the cities of Boca Raton and Delray Beach would rather stay in the county, so another option is to stay west of the Turnpike and include up to the Canyon development in West Boynton (which sends its kids to Olympic Heights). And it’s possible Parkland would want to join the new county to get out of Broward.
3. Can this even be done?
   Yes. Article VIII, Section 1 of the state constitution gives this power to the state legislature: “Counties may be created, abolished or changed by law, with provision for payment or apportionment of the public debt.”
4. Is it politically possible?
   It should be. One would expect that county insiders would oppose any such change. But the county is run by Democrats and the legislature is run by Republicans. If we want to go there, we would need help from the GOP. They might even enjoy the opportunity to stick it to the Democrats. Also, for our state representatives in the Florida House and Senate, they might be persuaded if their voters are motivated.

What do readers think of the idea? Please let us know in the comments here or on our Facebook post.