Columns

Commission needs to move beyond maybes

By C.T. BOWEN
Published July 18, 2007

Confronting state-required budget cuts, Pasco commissioners Tuesday attempted to put a price tag on values, quality of life and leadership.

It was a trying exercise made more difficult by individual commissioners' reluctance to alter the status quo toward their own pet projects: social service grants to outside agencies, traveling to seminars, investing in economic development, cleaning ponds under the umbrella of Scenic Pasco or subsidizing a recycling show for kids, and keeping employee raises at the traditional level of 5 percent annually.

By the end of the two-hour meeting, the big decisions toward reaching $15.8-million in increased revenue or decreased spending remained on the maybe list. Maybe we can afford to set aside $2-million as an economic incentive fund. Maybe we can do without the $6-million service center for the elections supervisor. Still to be discussed, maybe Sheriff Bob White will make do with less than the $11.2-million increase he's seeking.

Maybe this is harder than we expected.

Commissioners started out just fine. They eliminated their own $12,000 travel budget even though Commissioner Jack Mariano, fresh from a National Association of Counties annual meeting in Richmond, Va., defended the spending. They cut the subscriptions to two daily newspapers. They dropped the national association's $8,291 membership (again over Mariano's objections) and cut $32,000 of the $35,000 budgeted for the commission's annual report.

All told, commissioners cut 21 percent of the spending attributed to running their offices. Unfortunately, commissioners Ted Schrader and Pat Mulieri then suggested social service agencies take a 50 percent cut, meaning charities should show more than twice the leadership of the commission.

The county currently sets aside $1 per resident of unincorporated Pasco to be distributed via United Way recommendations to area nonprofits. Cutting it to half-a-dollar per resident, as proposed by Schrader, will trim the expected expenditure to $191,000 in the coming year.

Commissioners Ann Hildebrand and Michael Cox balked and Mariano indicated he didn't want agencies to lose the ability to leverage the grants into larger allocations from other sources.

Here's an idea (at no charge): Cut the outside agency allocation by 21 percent, since that's how much the commission whacked from its own office. At 79 cents per resident, the allocation will drop to $321,000. It's still down from the current spending, requires everyone to share the pain and should be palatable to the charities considering the alternative.

Mulieri said she couldn't spare the charity funding in light of the loss of planned bus service to the Moon Lake area at a cost savings of $70,000. Her aggravation is understandable, but her logic is skewed. In large parts, mass transit and the social agencies serve an overlapping population. She shouldn't unwittingly penalize a lower socio-economic group more than once.

The county's proposed budget already includes reduced services at the libraries. After the fiscal year starts Oct. 1, don't be surprised if you're paying more for an ambulance ride, or to play organized sports at county recreational facilities, or if some other fees escalate.

Here's another free suggestion for the commission. Eliminate the $45,000 contract with the Tallahassee-based lobbyist that worked on transportation and sinkhole issues.

Sen. Mike Fasano admits the Legislature failed on reducing insurance rates. The cash previously committed to state road projects in the county is courtesy of Fasano's role as chairman of the appropriations committee overseeing the transportation budget, not the work of a lobbyist.

So, what's the point? Commissioners will have a difficult time explaining to their constituents the benefits of paying for increased access in the state capital while cutting spending back home. It's even harder to rationalize considering the budget choices are mandated by the same people the commission attempted to influence in Tallahassee.

[Last modified July 18, 2007, 08:47:00]