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Letter to the editor

Guest column

Taxpayers, be wary of how money's spent

By MORRIS HARVEY
Published June 6, 2005

A review of the Capital Improvement Plan of the Board of County Commissioners reveals a number of interesting fiscal practices that should raise the interest level of all Citrus County citizens.

The BOCC is continuing to commit ad valorem taxes, approximately $2.7-million over the next five years, to subsidize the two airports. This also includes a new commitment to the corporate welfare mentality of creating a business park, complete with prepaid utilities and infrastructure as part of the Inverness airport plan.

They will tell you that this ad valorem tax money is to match Florida Department of Transportation funding, which covers 80 percent of the total projects proposed. Neither of our airports is profitable and now we will have a new unprofitable business park that our citizens have been forced to fund with taxes.

The park has been approved without any cost-benefit analysis or a marketing plan. Another "build it and they will come" boondoggle. It should be noted that the Federal Aviation Administration has not even approved the runway expansion.

Are these good investments? If they are, why isn't the aviation and corporate/business community stepping forward with an investment plan? The private sector needs to step up.

Another line item in the aviation projects is $200,000 to relocate a building, which was first leased to the Inverness Kiwanis Club in 1952 on a 99-year lease. Later in 1986, the 99-year lease was bought out with a $20,000 cash payout from the general fund, with the stipulation that a new building would be constructed on the subject premises and to be used for a Boy Scout troop facility. The lease was for $1 and required the lessee to maintain the grounds and building, with the assurance that the airport runway would not be closer than 300 feet of the property line.

Fast forward to 2005 and the county wants to extend the runway, which would violate the lease agreement. The Fiscal Watch Committee likes both the Boy Scouts and the Kiwanis Club, but does it really take $200,000 to find them a new meeting facility? One might also ask why our county government has been involved in this manner with these select organizations.

Taking another look at the general fund projects and find $400,000 allocated to construct a new community center for the Withlapopka community. Some inquiry shows that the Withlapopka Civic Association has been utilizing a county-owned facility, which has become dilapidated to the point of bordering on condemnation. Consequently, they are asking the county to build them a new one at general taxpayer expense, good old ad valorem taxes.

Is it possible for this community to pay for the new facility as a Municipal Service Benefit Unit/Taxable Unit, thus letting the beneficiaries of the improvement pay the price? How many other county-owned buildings are committed to these types of arrangements?

Millions of dollars worth of road projects are being prioritized and scheduled without knowing the capacity designation of these county roadways. It is not known when these roadways will reach a concurrency (moratorium on growth condition) level. Could it be that they just want to keep building regardless of cost to the taxpayer, to avoid having to test their political will to impose a construction moratorium? This is guesswork, but it is only more taxpayer dollars being committed.

I thought only God had the gift to work in such mysterious ways.

Fellow residents, you are the owners; it is time for you to reassert your ownership. We need a great roar that cannot be ignored.

--Morris Harvey is chairman of the Fiscal Watch Committee of the Citrus County Council. Guest columnists write on subjects of their own choosing and their views do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.

[Last modified June 6, 2005, 01:34:12]