Susan Baird - marching to a different drum

Alachua County Commissioner Susan Baird is the first republican elected to the Board of County Commissioners in some 20 years.  In the interest of saving county resources, Baird says she hopes to refocus the county's efforts into what she views as necessary services.

Alachua County Commissioner Susan Baird says it all comes down to philosophy.

“I think I’m right, they think they’re right,” she said. “We can both justify our positions.”

Elected to the commission last November, Baird is not only the most recent addition to the county commission, but she is the first Republican candidate to be elected in about 20 years. The Tea Party favorite won the election with 54 percent of the vote, defeating the incumbent candidate Cynthia Chestnut.

Being the underdog during the election, Baird is still surprised she won. “I was surprised when someone called me commissioner today,” she said. “I looked around and said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s me.’

“My big concern was being the lone, dissenting vote,” she said.

Looking back on her short time on the commission, Baird believes she has accomplished some of her goals despite having a different political philosophy from her fellow commissioners.

Baird thinks political philosophy is what’s stopping the county from managing its budget effectively. “My belief is that the role of the government is to provide core services which are public safety, fire and police, infrastructure, roads, water,” she said. She added that the county spreads itself too thin and focuses on issues that shouldn’t be priorities.

“The philosophy that has dominated the county for the past couple of years has not taken us to a good place,” she said. “Things changed in the country, and people in Alachua County are also ready to make that change.”

Over the past 10 years Baird says the county hasn’t been spending money wisely. She points out the gas tax that has been used mostly for RTS should have been spent on repairing roads. Now the county is at a point where the road problem can no longer be ignored, and is considering a pavement program that would require a sales surtax – the Penny for Pavement proposal. While Baird supports the plan, she thinks the county needs to win the trust of residents before it can expect them to support the program.

Baird says the county should demonstrate fiscal responsibility and stop enhancing the budget with what she calls nonessential services such as CHOICES. She takes issue with plans to build a new fairground as too costly.

Her foremost concern is making the county business friendly, saying if the county worked on reducing business regulation and high costs associated with starting a new business, it would result in jobs, increase the tax base and reduce the pressure of government to provide community services.

“It’s a very difficult process to start a business here in Alachua County,” she said. “Our tax rate is so high that it doesn’t encourage businesses to choose Alachua County as a location.”

Baird, who’s been in real estate for about 10 years, has seen firsthand the impact of local tax rates. “In the last five years I’ve seen a lot of people not move to Alachua County or move out of the county because of high taxes and few job opportunities,” she said.

Baird first came on the political scene last year when she began attending charter review board meetings. “I saw how entrenched politicians could be in Gainesville,” she said. Regardless, she thinks that prosperity is possible. She points to the City of Alachua as an example of how leaders can make a community flourish.

The single mother wants to see Alachua County become a “thriving, healthy community with a symbiotic relationship with UF and Shands.” While her ideas about how to reach that goal often clash with those of her colleagues on the commission, she says civility on the board is strong.

Originally from Michigan, Baird moved to Gainesville after living in New York for several years, saying she is not a “big city kind of girl.”

Baird’s term as county commissioner ends November 2014.  Her hope is that by then the county will be financially stable in terms of core services and residents can enjoy a lower tax rate