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Worried by taxes? Pay attention now

For most people the words "budget hearings" produce a yawn. Given all the other things that occupy our busy lives, it doesn't exactly rise to the top of the to-do list.

But this is the when local governments begin to decide how to spend your money. If you are a taxpayer who cares about that or suspects you might when you receive your truth in millage (TRIM) statement in August, now is the time to pay attention. If you wait, it may be too late to do much more than grumble.

Constitutional officers must submit their spending plans to the Hernando County Commission by Wednesday. In weeks to come, the commission will hear presentations from those elected officers and from county department heads, who will outline how they intend to spend your money. Later, formal public hearings will be held before the commission finally gets around to approving its final budget for fiscal year 2005-06, which begins Oct. 1.

The School Board starts even sooner. The board is holding its first workshop on the budget in a couple of weeks, and early indications are that taxpayers will enjoy modest savings.

Chief Financial Officer Deborah Bruggink will submit a budget that will decrease the millage rate in two of the five categories for which taxes are collected. One category will go up, and two will remain the same.

The overall tax rate will go down 0.97 mills. (One mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 of taxable property value.) A person who owns a $100,000 home and claims the $25,000 homestead exemption, for example, will pay $12.60 less than last year.

The County Commission is not as far along in the process, but board members have indicated they would like to lower the millage rate, and county administrator Gary Adams and budget officer George Zoettlein are headed in that direction.

But for those who want to stay abreast of the commission's and school board's spending, the wakeup call is sounding now. This is when the fundamental decisions are being made. Residents who have questions, causes or complaints have a better chance of influencing the process if they pay attention to the budget discussions and presentations in their early stages.

If you wait until you pull the TRIM notice out of your mailbox in August, it may be too late to effect meaningful change.

[Last modified May 29, 2005, 01:04:12]