Unknowingly, Pasco County commissioners likely swatted down their own idea to assume responsibility for the mosquito control district.
Commissioner Peter Altman resurrected the notion Tuesday afternoon, wondering if the county should consider merging its mission of improved stormwater drainage with mosquito control operations overseen by an independently elected board and district levying its own property tax.
Altman's stance drew supportive comments from commissioners Ann Hildebrand, Steve Simon and Ted Schrader.
"The accountability is on us, whether we like it or not," said Simon.
True. When threats from West Nile virus emerged more than a year ago, it was the County Commission, not the Mosquito Control District Board - confronting the issue of authorizing emergency spraying. That became the impetus for the county to expand the district throughout east Pasco to ensure no populated areas escaped routine spraying for mosquitoes.
The question now is not size, but control. A potential county takeover is not a new issue and we have recommended it in the past. Commissioners considered it after the 1996 election that attracted a swarm of 21 candidates for the three-member Mosquito Control District Board. The long list of candidates - drawn mostly by the $4,800 annual salary for attending one meeting a month - produced a two-page butterfly ballot that election losers contended brought voter confusion and skewed results. An unsuccessful appeal to the Pasco County Canvassing Board followed.
But the commission rejected the takeover, saying the estimated $140,000 savings from merging the district into county government didn't justify the hassle of requesting state legislation or a ballot issue to disband it. The district in west Pasco began in 1951 after a voter referendum and expanded five times since. It now serves all of Pasco County.
If a past commission - only Hildebrand and Pat Mulieri remain from 1997 - didn't think a cost savings was worth the bother, how will the current panel react when it realizes it will have to spend money to spray for mosquitoes?
That is the scenario because of the recent boundary expansions approved by the commission this year and in 2002. Since the district now includes Pasco's six cities, a county takeover eliminates the independence and the accompanying constitutional authorization to assess a separate property tax exclusively for municipal-level services like mosquito spraying. Essentially, a takeover will require the county to pay for the district's operations from its own general fund.
The mosquito control district's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year is more than $4.1-million, to be financed with a millage of 24 cents per $1,000 of assessed taxable property value.
Assuming a more than $4-million expense without a designated revenue source isn't expected to jibe well with commissioners frequently preoccupied with the county's proximity to the constitutional property tax limit of $10 per $1,000.
Mosquito control is a valuable government service, but the long-term budget implications should preclude county commissioners from pursuing the idea further.
