ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- After a year of confusion, frustration and fines, veterans will have a new place to seek care.
Two years ago, St. Johns County sold the existing clinic building to Lowe's and the Department of Veterans Affairs had until this April to move or the city, which owns the property, would have to pay a monthly fine.
Now nearly six months later, the county has had to use $400,000 in tax dollars to pay fines.
"There are a lot of angry citizens here about the waste of tax dollars," said Bill Dudley, chairman of the Veterans Council in St. Johns County.
Long wait times have plagued the VA. In St. Augustine, the problem wasn't only wait times, but indecision on where veterans would go for care.
Army veteran Ray Quinn says veterans were less upset about the wait times than they were concerned with the building issue. "It's the bureaucracy of infrastructure that frustrates them," said Quinn.
The issue was in the national spotlight this summer after being discussed before a congressional committee.
Starting next Monday, veterans will go to the $1 million temporary facility on Southpark Boulevard. which is about two blocks away from the existing clinic.
The long term plan is to build a permanent facility, but as of now, the temporary clinic has a 1-3 year lease.
Dudley says this problem could have been avoided if the VA would have worked with the county on finding a solution.
"Over 5,500 veterans in this county, that place is their primary healthcare," he said. "They don't have any other healthcare and when they don't know if they are going to have that next month or next year, it heightens their level of concern."
First Coast News reached out to the VA office, but had not received a response by deadline.
