Column

Financial challenges pushing us backward

By C.T. BOWEN
Published June 24, 2007

More than a decade ago, Pasco County government operated under the routine mandate of no new people, no new programs.

Annual budget struggles during the county's modest growth years generally meant higher property tax rates and limits on services. It translated to increased prices to send your child to the county's summer camps; passing on the power bills for field lights at the ballfields to the volunteers operating the youth sports leagues; shorter operating hours at the county library branches; few, if any, new patrol deputies; no new code enforcement personnel, and frozen funding for economic development and social service groups.

Governing meant not spending money, and though conservatives would champion a return to such a narrow focus, it should be noted that the county lacked the wherewithal to turn coastal land into a planned park or enforce all its zoning rules on commercial signs, adult entertainment and other issues. It also heard annual complaints about growing police response time and floated the idea of charging for library cards.

Welcome back to the 1990s and the era of the Clintons in the White House, Hootie & the Blowfish on the radio, the inaugural Florida Marlins on the baseball diamond, and Ed, Sylvia and Hap as the big fish on the commission dais. No new people, no new programs.

In a preview of the upcoming county budget, commissioners learned this week the real financial pain is more than a year away, but the preventive medicine needs to start now.

With state-ordered spending limits this year and the potential for a voter-approved tax exemption for homesteaded residential property owners in 2008, the county is beginning to send that message.

Commissioner Michael Cox wants the school district to pick up the Sheriff's Office costs for school resource officers and crossing guards. The county and district traditionally split the SRO expenses.

The seemingly minor contributions like $15, 000 for the annual West Pasco Chamber of Commerce's Business Development Week each January could be gone.

More importantly, some capital construction - costs of which continue to escalate - could be delayed. In the lean years of the 1990s, the county routinely looked at its capital construction fund and plugged in less dollars than intended to make budget ends meet elsewhere. It's not a particularly pleasant strategy given rising costs, an overcrowded jail, a west side judicial center that is going to reopen at capacity, the tax collector seeking a new central Pasco office, an expanded animal shelter that always seems to remain in the fifth year of a five-year building program and other construction needs on the horizon.

A library branch, we should note, would be built with impact fee dollars tied to residential growth, but salaries for staffing comes from property tax revenues. Hence, the county won't build a library if it can't afford a librarian.

The anticipated property tax rate for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 is 5.5 mills, or $5.50 for each $1, 000 of a property's taxable value. That's a 9 percent drop from the current tax rate.

Growth in the property tax rolls attributed to new construction takes the sting out of revenue collections for the year. The county expects $162-million in property taxes for its general fund.

But Sheriff Bob White already asked for 109 new people in a his nearly $95-million budget request, a 13 percent increase over his current budget. His argument is per capita spending on law enforcement needs to increase. The county's counterargument will be: From where are we supposed to get the money?

The county needs to spend nearly $500, 000 as part of the state-mandated switch to new voting machines, bringing a rebuke from Cox this week about unfunded mandates from the state.

That's just this year. If voters approve the new homestead superexemption that will benefit new homeowners rather than long-time residents, the county budget could be cut anywhere from $8-million to $24-million in 2008.

No new programs, no new people and a lot of reduced services.

[Last modified June 24, 2007, 00:52:15]