Is there a feature on the tool bar that allows me to insert a space or create another paragraph without doing a hard return? I want to get clarification on my statement below.

A hard return (Enter) creates a paragraph, that is the default intended behaviour.

To create another kind of space between two content blocks (assuming paragraphs), you need to add a margin to either paragraph. This can sometimes be done using styles included with the template. For example, in Yootheme templates, a margin can be added using the uk-margin class, which you can add to a paragrah in the editor using the Styles list.

My developer said that when I do a hard return, JCE editor add unneeded tags.

A hard return creates a new paragraph, that is all. It does not add "unneeded tags".

He went into my pages and fixed all of these tags. Was this necessary? I don’t want to spend money if I don’t have to. How concerned should I be about this?

Without knowing exactly what he did, I can't comment. He may be referring to inline styles (font size, color etc.) that you have been adding to text in the editor, instead of using styles provided by your template.

I’m confused about your comment --- “Without knowing exactly what he did, I can't comment. He may be referring to inline styles (font size, color etc.) that you have been adding to text in the editor, instead of using styles provided by your template.

I use the text editor tool bar for all of my formatting – http://prntscr.com/wlixvo
This is what the editor is for, to make it easy for people to format content.

The purpose of the site template is to create the structure of the content displayed in the front-end, and to style the site and content using a predefined set of css styles, eg: headings, text, links etc.

This keeps the look of the content consistent across the site, as you don't need to set the font, colour or other formatting when creating content. If you want a heading, you select one of the Heading options in the editor, eg: Heading 2, and the template styles define the font size, colour et.c of that heading. Ditto for paragraph text, links etc.

Of course the editor includes a full set of font editing tools for you to use, and it is up to you whether you want to use them to style content differently to how the template does it. The downside to this is that to get a consistent look across the site, you need to make those changes in every article you write.

What do you mean by styles provided by the template?

Templates often use a "CSS Framework" - a generic predefined set of styles - on which to base the specific style of the template. For example, the Yootheme template your site uses, uses the UIKit CSS Framework as its base, then creates a unique look for the template with additional css styles to adjust font color, size, etc.

These frameworks can sometimes include useful utility styles to adjust margin and padding. For example, in Yootheme / UIKit templates, the "uk-margin" style will add a 20px bottom margin to an element, like a paragraph. You can apply this by clicking inside a paragraph in the editor, and then selecting "uk-margin" from Styles list in the editor toolbar.