Letters to the Editors

Impact fees should pay for growth in our county

Editor: Here's a myth for you: Growth pays for itself.

If growth paid for itself, Citrus County Administrator Richard Wesch would not have proposed a 2-cent gasoline-tax increase to pay for new roads, roads made necessary by growth. Growth, you see, does not pay for itself; in fact, growth drains the wallets of Citrus County taxpayers. (You've noticed that your property taxes are more now than last year, even though our commissioners will tell you they have not raised taxes. That's growth for you.)

Not that growth is bad. Where were you 10 years or 20 years ago, after all? The problem with growth is that it is paid for not by those who cause it, but by those who are imposed upon by it.

Growth is simply unfair to those who pay for it while receiving little or no profit from it. But that could change if Citrus County had other than an affected Board of County Commissioners.

Impact fees are the answer, but Citrus County's are way, way, too low. Moreover, there are no impact fees for water and sewage. None! Oh, artful government sorts will say about sewers and water, "We charge hookup fees," which is true. However, hookup fees are not impact fees any more than property taxes are gasoline taxes.

Impact fees in Citrus County must immediately be raised to as high as $12,000 per year per residence if growth is to pay for itself. (Hey, desalination plants alone cost in excess of $100-million). And, let's be honest, growth should pay for itself; after all, politicians, bureaucrats, Realtors and developers tell us all the time that growth pays for itself.

The Citrus County Council proposes to make "growth pay for itself" a self-fulfilling prophecy. It can be done by increasing impact fees to the level at which growth will indeed pay for that which it causes: more schools, more deputies, more roads, more parks, more libraries, more public transportation, more public housing, more social services, more emergency services, more sewage treatment systems and more potable water systems.

Figure it this way: Residents of Citrus County don't need all those additional systems; people who now live elsewhere need them. (A curiosity: Impact fees increase the value of individual homes by the amount of the impact fees' increase.)

The Citrus County Council opposes an increase in any and all taxes and favors an increase in impact fees.
-- James McIntosh, president Citrus County Council

Commission needs new eyes to look at books

Editor: The good ol' boy system is alive and well in Citrus County. Proof positive was on display when the County Commission renewed the county external auditor at the regular July 22 meeting with the accounting firm of Williams, McRanie and Sutton.

This is the only accounting firm for external auditing our county has ever used.

The firm has held this contract for 15 years, and it now has been extended to at least 18 years and possibly 20 years (with options).

The state recommends as "best public practice" the periodic change in auditors because a fresh pair of eyes is always desirable. The form used by the county calls for deducting 10 points for any firm currently doing business with the county.

The Government Finance Officers Association also makes this same recommendation. Its sole intent is for a new pair of eyes to look at our books. Except this doesn't happen In Citrus County.

It looks like we are stuck with this wrong-headed auditing arrangement for at least three more years, but this issue is simply too important for the well-being of this county to ignore. I can figure out only two reasons for this selection committee to do what it did:

To take care of their friends (good ol' boyism), or:

There are things that these county officials don't want us to know.

Either reason is dead wrong and contrary to the best interests of the residents of Citrus County.

Enron liked Andersen because they were "comfortable" with each other.
-- James C. Bitter, Homosassa

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright