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Silver lining of budget surpluses holds a cloud

Just a week ago, the County Commission wrestled with tough decisions on whether to create a mechanism for raising property taxes and to set a new assessment, both of which aimed to provide money for public safety services.

The needs are obvious, but the methods of raising the money were debatable. The commissioners killed the property tax notion and, belatedly, set a public hearing on the assessment proposal.

Turns out they need not have bothered with all of that anxiety. There will be plenty of money available for all of these services.

Set aside, for the moment, the question of why this essential information was not part of the commission's discussion. The primary point is that there should be enough money this year for the county to pay its batch of newly hired firefighters and to begin to accommodate the sheriff's stated needs.

Late last week, Commissioners Vicki Phillips and Gary Bartell pressed the county staff for a clearer accounting of Citrus County's finances, especially the reserve funds. Bartell says that when he was told in December that the Tourist Development Council has a $250,000 reserve fund that he did not know about, it led him to question whether other similar cash stockpiles exist in the county budget.

They do, to the tune of several million dollars. The exact amount of money floating around these reserve accounts will not be known until March when the annual audit is released.

The commission needs to know whether these funds have strings attached or if the dollars can be used for other needs. They need to know how much has been prudently set aside for emergencies or, as seems to be the case, whether these excess dollars are in addition to what already has been budgeted as contingency funds.

They also need to know who decided to stash this cash throughout the budget and not share this important information about the reserves in a meaningful and clear way with the elected decisionmakers.

Mostly, commissioners need an accurate and functional budget report so they can make responsible decisions about the public's finances.

Add to those pots of unattached money a windfall of greenbacks heading to the county coffers because of new construction and rocketing property values. The property appraiser says the county's tax roll will climb by a whopping 10 percent next year, meaning millions more dollars will be pouring in soon to the county.

Keep in mind that the tax roll lags a year behind the actual market, and the county can expect this trend of higher property tax revenue to continue.

Also, the commissioners will be deciding soon whether to double the impact fees for new construction, a move that would bring in many additional millions of dollars to offset the costs of the county's continuing growth.

With all of this on the table now, the county commissioners' decisions are a lot easier.

There is no need to consider setting up a separate property tax mechanism, a Municipal Service Taxing Unit, to raise money for the sheriff's new emergency operations center, more personnel and a helicopter.

By keeping a rein on other county expenses, tapping into the reserve funds and riding the wave of higher property tax revenues, the county should be able to meet its needs and those of the sheriff. That is, if Sheriff Jeff Dawsy cooperates by holding the line on his other budget requests and prioritizes his wish list.

The $50-per-property-owner assessment for firefighters also can be shelved, at least for now. This area of the budget will continue to grow as more hires are made because personnel costs are always the most volatile part of any spending plan. Salaries, benefits - especially health insurance - and training costs will climb annually.

For the commissioners, this budget news should come as a relief. They can avoid the politically deadly move toward raising taxes and creating new assessments. Whether Citrus property owners who are paying more in taxes because of their higher values press them for a millage rate rollback is another matter.

But this silver lining has a cloud: Why were the commissioners poised to decide such weighty money matters last week without all of this crucial information at their disposal? Is it the fault of the staff? Other constitutional officers? The commissioners themselves? All of the above?

Those of us who are asked to pay the bills deserve to know how and why this happened, and what steps are being taken to ensure that before the commissioners decide on raising the costs of living in Citrus County, they and the public are provided with all of the essential information.

[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:07:17]