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County still squirming over budgetBy WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published July 24, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - County commissioners made no decision on whether to raise taxes Wednesday, nor did they make any progress toward identifying spending cuts that could avert an increase. "If we are going to maintain our stability, we are going to have to consider a millage increase," said Commissioner Nancy Robinson after the four-hour budget workshop, which continues today. Even Commissioner Robert Schenck - a self-proclaimed advocate of frugal spending and a critic of bloated government - glumly shook his head when asked whether he had found areas to trim in the proposed 2004 budget to avoid a tax increase. "Not yet," said Schenck. Tentative millage rates must be determined before Aug. 4. If rates are increased, it would be the first property tax rate increase in six years. The tentative rates can be lowered at public meetings on the budget, to be held in September, but cannot be raised. What's on the table is an increase in the transportation trust fund levy, one of four taxes county property owners pay, from $0.84 per $1,000 of assessed home value to $1.24. The tax increase means the owner of a $125,000 house using the state's $25,000 homestead exemption would pay the county $882.04 annually, rather than the $842.04 now paid, an increase of 4.8 percent. Officials say the increase is needed to generate the $2-million the county is committed by ordinance to contributing each year for residential road repair. Only through the juggling of funds and the issuing of debt last year has the county been able to make good on its commitment. The proposed transportation fund increase would cost the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 an extra $3.33 a month. A new taxing unit for stormwater management being proposed - $0.135 per $1,000 of assessed value - would cost the owner of the same home $1.13 a month. The stormwater levy does not apply in Brooksville or Weeki Wachee. State and federal agencies would match money raised by the levy. Office of Management and Budget director George Zoettlein guided commissioners to areas where cuts could be made, while warning that he had found none substantial enough to fund the road repair program without tax increases. Once fixed expenditures for things such as debt payments on bonds, the county's jail contract, mandated expenditures into the state's retirement program and a prudent reserve are subtracted from the general fund budget of $73.5-million, Zoettlein said, just more than $8-million remains. That money, however, is budgeted for service contracts the county has, purchasing office supplies and payment of utility bills, he said. "You start cutting into that $8-million, you are not going to be able to pay your light and electric bills," Zoettlein told commissioners. Also budgeted into the $73.5-million amount is $13.8-million in personnel costs. That $13.8-million includes the cost of giving county employees a 5 percent raise - 3 percent for cost of living increases, plus 2 percent for merit raises. Zoettlein told commissioners they could save $623,405 if they granted no raises to employees in 2004, but the idea was greeted with little enthusiasm. "That sends the wrong message," county Commissioner Diane Rowden said shortly after the workshop. "It has a big influence on morale." The budget director also steered commissioners toward a proposed $1.2-million for new initiatives. Of that amount, nearly $800,000 is tied up in the county's new transit system. The good news is that the bulk of that budgeted amount will be refunded in federal dollars. Another $290,000 is dedicated to hiring new employees. Once those amounts are deducted, Zoettlein said, that leaves a mere $91,761 that could be trimmed. But if it's cut, then that would eliminate money for such things as uniforms for new employees, a $2,399 computer for the county attorney's office and a $2,500 hydraulic hose crimper for the county landfill. Expensive items, surely, but nowhere near the $2-million needed to continue the residential road repair program, which is 75 percent complete. Areas still to be paved are scattered across the county, but the bulk are in Spring Hill. Would the county end the road program? "I find it hard to abandon," Robinson said. "The condition of our roads will go right downhill." Only Rowden came up with a solution of sorts, but it rests on a levy of another kind. By asking residents to approve a half-cent sales tax, which Zoettlein recommends to deal with roads and to pay the mounting bond debt on capital projects, the tax increase could be rolled back down the road. Rowden envisions approving the tax increase and rescinding it in 2006 when cash from the half-cent sales tax would start rolling in, an estimated $5.5-million a year. That idea depends, of course, on residents' approving the sales tax, which could be put to a vote in November of 2004 at the earliest. No other commissioners spoke out in support of Rowden's idea. What they did reach consensus on, however, were spending increases on the transit system, commonly called THE Bus. Though ridership figures have been higher than expected since operation began last fall, complaints about hours of operation, service to Brooksville and getting the disabled and homebound to and from stops have dogged the venture. Commissioners agreed not to jettison money in the budget to fund several enhancements meant to improve service, saying they were crucial to providing viable transportation alternatives to residents. The total cost of the improvements is expected to be $153,977 a year. However, the bulk of them are not slated to take effect until April of next year, meaning the 2004 allocation should be $99,010. The public workshops on the budget are scheduled for Sept. 10 and 25 at 5 p.m. in the commission chambers. - Will Van Sant covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com
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