The clerk of courts gave the $377,104 and his suggestion to the County Commission this week.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published November 7, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY - Clerk of Courts Jed Pittman ended his fiscal year Sept. 30 with an extra $377,104 and an idea of how to spend it:
Flood relief.
Pittman made the suggestion this week as he handed over his year-end surplus to the County Commission, which ultimately decides how to spend the money. The clerk often amasses such a surplus because he collects more in recording fees and other court costs than he spends.
"Feeling the pinch of the flooding problem myself, I just felt it might be helpful," said Pittman, who lives in the Highlands, one of the hardest-hit areas in Hudson.
"I'm not asking for the money to be spent (in the Highlands)," Pittman added. "I just thought it might help somebody."
In a way, it already has. The county has spent an estimated $2.1-million fighting this summer's floods, said Michele Baker, the county's director of Emergency Management. The money has gone toward pumping projects, emergency and permanent road repairs, and hauling away rainwater that collected at the East Pasco Landfill, among other costs.
The surplus from Pittman's office will help cover those unbudgeted expenses, County Administrator John Gallagher said.
"We've spent a lot of unexpected money on flooding," Gallagher said Thursday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the county for 75 percent of its flood-related costs, Baker said. The state will cover another 12.5 percent, she said.
That leaves the county to absorb about $266,707 in flooding costs, under the latest estimates.
"Of course, that does not include the roads we have not yet written up as separate damage estimates because they're still flooded," Baker said. "There are more (costs) to come, and the pump rentals continue on."
With water levels finally falling, the county pulled the plug last month on most of its pumping operations. It continues to pump on Houston Avenue (outside the Great Cypress Village Mobile Home Park), Okeene Drive in Hudson and in the Highlands.
When the flooding was at its worst in August, the back end of Pittman's 4-acre Highlands property was under water. He watched his storage barn fill with 8 inches of water in one hour.
Most of the contents inside - books on the Civil War that Pittman collected since age 12, his wife's glossy books of old Hollywood stars - were ruined.
"I lost a lot of personal things: photographs of children, parents, great uncles and aunts," Pittman said. "You can't replace those things."
As for his office's surplus dollars, Pittman said, "It's there. Maybe they can use it to help somebody else. I just wanted to put it in the mind of the (County Commission)."
- Times staff writer James Thorner contributed to this report.
