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No rush to spell out fire rescue referendum

By TIMES EDITORIAL
Published April 29, 2007

The Hernando County Commission has set aside time Tuesday to discuss authorizing a referendum that would allow voters to decide whether to grant full independence to the Spring Hill Fire Rescue District.

That apparently is the will of a majority of the commissioners, as well as hundreds of residents who recently protested a proposal that would have replaced the Spring Hill Fire Commission with the County Commission.

But before commissioners get carried away with their new-found fondness for delegating the difficult decisions that voters elected them to make, here are a couple of things to consider:

- Prior to addressing any other aspect of a referendum, the commissioners need to agree on when the vote will be held. And the only way to ensure that a true majority of residents in the fire district will have their say is to place it on the November 2008 general election ballot.

Voter turnout in general elections dwarf that of the September primaries. In 2004, the last presidential election year, 74 percent of the county's registered voters, trekked to the polls. In the September primary that year, as well as the March presidential primary, only 28 percent bothered to cast a ballot. In 2000, 68 percent of registered voters cast ballots, compared with only 22 percent in the September primary.

There is every reason to believe that trend, which categorically demonstrates the public's level of interest, will continue when voters go to the polls to elect a president of the United States in November 2008. More likely, considering the widening political chasm at the national level and frustration at the local level with higher taxes and homeowners insurance, the voter turnout will exceed the already considerable imbalance between the primary and general elections.

Holding the referendum in November will guarantee the results of the election will be a bona fide mandate from Spring Hill voters.

- The next challenge facing the commission will be how to word the question that will appear on the ballot. That decision will depend on whether the commission merely intends, as it did in 1992 and again in 2002, to ask voters if they wish to maintain the status quo, which gives the County Commission ultimate authority over the taxes the fire commission collects from Spring Hill residents. Or, the commission may opt to word the referendum in such a way that would bind voters to a more definitive outcome: For instance, "yes" for the fire commission's unconditional independence, or "no" for independence and takeover by the County Commission.

That debate is necessary. This matter needs to be settled once and for all so residents can be spared the histrionic divisiveness the issue consistently creates.

But the commissioners should not make a decision anytime soon about how to pose the ballot question. They do not have enough information upon which to base an informed decision.

Taxpayers have invested, with the commission's undivided blessing, about $100, 000 for Clerk of the Circuit Court Karen Nicolai to pay an independent consultant to assess fire and ambulance services in Hernando County. The study is expected to be the most comprehensive examination to date of emergency services, and will include analyses of operational efficiencies, costs, equipment, personnel and safety, not only for the Spring Hill and Hernando County fire rescue districts, but also the volunteer departments in High Point and Hernando Beach.

According to Nicolai, the study should be complete, at the latest, by the end of this year. That leaves plenty of time for the commission, after making its decision to put the referendum on the November 2008 ballot, to determine the scope of the referendum.

Until the commissioners have that study in hand, it would be impulsive and irresponsible to attempt to define the wording of the ballot. It also would be a waste of the $100, 000 they spent for an outside opinion that should be free from the parochial and political forces that have seized control of this important debate.

[Last modified April 29, 2007, 07:20:15]