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Politics

Budget ax to cut more than taxes

"It's not going to be fun, and it's not going to be pretty, " one official warns.

By WILL VAN SANT and MELANIE AVE
Published June 13, 2007

The Looper Downtown Trolley may face a possible reduction in service with the new budget. "People live and die by the trolley not the bus," driver Terry Edwards (right) said about the Looper. "It's always on time and it's cheaper. The city wouldn't be the same without it."
	[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Joseph Garnett, Jr.] With Pinellas County looking to cut services in light of a tax structure overhaul in Tallahassee, the County Connection Bus, which does health and human services outreach, is on the chopping block.

Layoffs of local government workers are all but certain if Florida's Legislature passes even part of its property tax relief plan, Pinellas officials warned Tuesday.

Also on the block: funding for popular cultural, environmental and social service programs in Pinellas County and St. Petersburg.

"It's not going to be fun, and it's not going to be pretty," St. Petersburg City Council Chairman John Bryan said of pending layoffs.

Pinellas Administrator Steve Spratt said he'll be forced to cut hundreds of positions, some already vacant -- including about 50 in the Sheriff's Office. Attempts will be made to shuffle personnel, but some layoffs are likely, Spratt said.

Being targeted are officers who work special details like drug education programs or policing environmental lands to stop poachers and illegal dumping.

That one issue highlights choices the county's two largest governments say they'll face under the tax relief plan: Is policing public lands to stop dumping a need or an extravagance?

"We're going to cut taxes like the people wanted and do it in such a way it doesn't affect essential services," Bryan said. "The big argument is going to be, what are essential services."

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Under the Legislature's plan to force property tax rollbacks, property owners in Pinellas County would pay $30-million less in taxes next year. And St. Petersburg owners would pay $7.2-million less.

The rollback would force nearly all local governments to cut property taxes between 3 and 9 percent below 2007 levels. Both Pinellas and St. Petersburg would be required to cut 7 percent from this year's taxes of $428-million for Pinellas and $103-million for St. Petersburg.

Far more taxpayer relief -- and budget problems for local governments -- could come in subsequent years if the Legislature and voters both agree to a dramatic overhaul of the state's exemptions for homesteaded homeowners.

But Pinellas and St. Petersburg officials say just this year's cuts will be felt.

In St. Petersburg, funding could be eliminated for the Pier Aquarium, the Florida Orchestra, St. Petersburg Museum of History and the St. Petersburg Tennis Center.

Money for the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership's Looper trolley, and for drug and alcohol treatment beds at the Mustard Seed Inn and Turning Point, could be reduced.

Also under threat are funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. and Festival of States parades and the city's First Night New Year's Eve celebration.

"We all love the parades, but they're not a necessity when you look at other things," said council member Rene Flowers, who is also president of the Florida League of Cities.

Pinellas is considering offsetting some of its losses by raising an additional $1-million through increasing service fees for use of boat ramps, campgrounds and building permit services.

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Attempts are being made to cut in areas where the public is unlikely to feel much of a pinch. Spratt is going without a receptionist and relying on a bell to alert him to office visitors, for instance.

But he warned that modest cuts -- whether to animal control staffing, code enforcement operations or road and park maintenance -- are bound to inconvenience some residents.

Also facing the knife are $450,000 set aside to fund nonprofit social service agencies, $250,000 for homeless services, $1.8-million for youth recreation programs in unincorporated Pinellas and $263,000 in arts and museum grants.

"It's really hard to focus in on what has the broadest impact," Spratt said. "The fact is, taken together, they touch a lot of different segments in the community."

Local officials are working against a tight clock. Their fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Preliminary tax rates must be prepared at the end of July so that truth in millage notices can be sent to property owners Aug. 13.

The bill being proposed by the Legislature, however, provides them some flexibility. The state Department of Revenue, on its own or after an appeal by a local government, can grant 21-day extensions.

Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4166.

Fast facts: Homestead expansion
Lawmakers are proposing a "super" homestead exemption. Here's how it would work:

• Primary homes would get a tax exemption of 75 percent of the first $200,000 of the home's value, with a minimum exemption of $50,000.
• The next $300,000 in value will get an additional 15 percent exemption.
• Other details: homeowners whose tax bills are lower under the existing Save Our Homes program would be grandfathered to keep the lower tax bill.

Fast facts: Proposed rollbacks
Lawmakers propose creating a five-tier system for rolling back city and county government budgets that follows a basic principle: The more a local government allowed taxes to rise with property values between 2001 and 2006, the steeper the rollback. The plan caps property tax revenue next year at 2007 levels. From there, further reductions will be between 3 and 9 percent.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 06:42:50]