A Times Editorial

No on Hillsborough charter

If you're looking to make Hillsborough County government more dysfunctional than it already is, go no further than the charter amendment on the November ballot. Voters will decide whether to create a new position -- an "internal performance auditor" -- to examine how well the county spends money on public services. Sounds harmless enough -- unless the commission, which would hire and fire the auditor, doesn't like spending money anyway on bus service, road maintenance, services for the elderly or health care for the poor. Voters should reject the proposal.

The county charter should be a document that lays out in broad terms how to make local government more responsible. While no one could argue that auditing services wouldn't help, there are plenty of ways to keep check on spending without creating a tool for political abuse.

First, why do commissioners need to hire a permanent auditor, when these seven board members are already being paid to ensure tax money is responsibly spent? The county can always ask the circuit court clerk to conduct a special audit should the need arise. Or the county could hire an outside accountant, which forgoes the need for a permanent staff and eliminates the obvious conflicts that using an in-house auditor would raise.

The proposal undermines the integrity of the home rule charter, which is designed to give Hillsborough residents more control of their county government. Adding a layer to the bureaucracy dilutes accountability, and it gives the commission a tool to interfere with the staff in ways the current charter expressly forbids. The state of Hillsborough County government is divisive enough without adding another personality to the mix -- especially someone with a personal stake in exposing so-called waste in programs many current commissioners don't support. The board has used finances as a ruse to undermine support for the bus system, indigent health care and public access television.

Commissioners have the means and the duty already to achieve the best purpose of an auditor's job without engaging in a power grab with the county's executive branch. This is the wrong time and a needless way to add to the instability of the staff, the very people who are holding county government together. The charter amendment is on the ballot for all Hillsborough voters. The Times recommends a NO vote.

Ballot summary

To amend the Hillsborough County Charter, providing for the appointment and duties of a county internal performance auditor, who would advise and assist the Board of County Commissioners as a budget analyst and conduct studies of the operation of county programs and services.

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