Council plays tax game with wrong numbers

By TIMES EDITORIAL
Published July 27, 2007

In the spring, a majority of Port Richey voters said they wanted to maintain their municipal government. Home rule and city services, most notably the Police Department, led the reasons for the status quo.

Port Richey's council then should recognize that voter sentiment and try to balance city needs and services with available resources. It is disconcerting to see a council pick a tax rate out of thin air, miscalculate the expected effect on the budget, and approve it unanimously with no input from the city manager - the person who oversees the day-to-day management of Port Richey's government.

Tuesday evening, the council, with City Manager Jerry Calhoun home sick, reduced its maximum allowable property tax rate to 3.9 mills, or $3.90 for each $1,000 of property value. Calhoun already had proposed a 7 percent reduction as mandated by the state to 4.163 mills and he waited at home in vain for a conference call to confirm the council approval.

You would think the elected city leaders, two of whom were going through the city budget process for the first time, would have tapped their most knowledgeable resource before charging ahead with what turned out to be faulty calculations. However, not only did they ignore the city manager during the meeting, they never informed him afterward of the task they had presented him. Calhoun learned about the budget-cutting directive Wednesday from another city employee.

Here's the problem : Council member Mark Hashim said during the meeting the lower tax rate would require a $40,000 cut. He was half right. Calhoun said Wednesday it would require an $80,000 reduction.

Council members also had trouble identifying why they picked 3.9 mills. Our suspicion is that the council simply wanted to drop the millage below 4, regardless of the consequences.

Council members shouldn't fixate on a tax rate without knowing exactly what their spending options are. Their ambivalence after learning of their miscalculations is just as troubling.

A more appropriate way to govern is to set the millage as proposed, which then becomes the maximum allowable by law. However, the council would still retain the flexibility to lower the rate with further budget reductions.

Apparently, the council doesn't trust itself. Council member Dale Massad said in past years the city hasn't tried hard enough to reduce the tax rate after setting it each July. Gee, maybe past council members realized the effect of spending decisions based on numbers instead of services.

Hashim campaigned for the council on a platform of disbanding the city. His running mate, however, lost the mayoral race and city voters turned down a straw ballot question of hiring a consultant to determine the logistics of dissolving the municipality.

Considering how little debate surrounded a tax rate selected without justification, Hashim may yet be able to achieve his goal. Next year, he can just pick a tax rate of zero and see if two other council members agree.

[Last modified July 27, 2007, 06:34:47]