Todays Letters: Some county workers get little

Norbert Holz cleans up a small oil spill that occurred earlier this month in Brooksville when a garbage truck emptied a trash bin behind a commercial building at 1665 Donto Way. The Brooksville Fire Department responded to an unrelated fire in the garbage truck and found the motor oil.
	[Maurice Rivenbark | Times]

Lately the headlines in Hernando County are all about labor issues. Suddenly the schools take the initiative to grant an effective 7 percent across-the-board raise to all teachers and raise the starting pay to $34,000 minimum. (That part is okay.)

All this in the face of the county commissioners getting beat up over a once-proposed 5 percent raise for county employees, which was beaten down to 3 percent.

Well, the Sheriff's Office deputies are unionized and they will get 5 percent. The teachers are unionized and will get 7 percent, so it is no big surprise the rank-and-file County Commission workers have no choice but to unionize to be treated with any level of fairness in this county compared to the big two.

Shame on the sheriff, who can use the state to get a bigger budget, and the School Board, too.

Most of all, shame on the commissioners for letting down their people who do the work that benefits them and residents the most. They have no recourse other than to quit. It's a talent drain. (Hello! Social Security's cost-of living raise is 2.3 percent this year. And taxable housing values in Hernando dropped 18 percent this year for next.)

The sheriff and School Board may be cutting their staffs over the next two years to make up for the lost tax revenue.

So, the joke's ultimately going to be on your unionized, low-seniority workers; the ones who stay will be doing quite well financially and probably will make even more overtime. The ones who get laid off will have to leave the county to find work. They will move away, taking their families with them.

Are the schools ready for the drop in enrollment? Which schools will you mothball?

There are no real jobs here. The only thing floating this ship is the retirees' and vacationers' money. Service jobs are all there is. "Change my oil, feed my face, pave my streets, take my trash, power my AC unit, fix my cable and mow my lawn after you debug it and the house. Thank you."

You will graduate perhaps 4,000 seniors and they will all have to leave Hernando, except for the 880 who dropped out. They have to stay here because they can't pass the GED to get in the military even. How do you spell welfare? I spell it T-A-X-E-S.

Harder times are ahead for Hernando County. Don't take it out on the few workers you have who carry the county on their shoulders for their $30,000 a year. That's not a lot of money, especially when they give $2,000 cash back in real estate taxes every year, just like everyone else.

Doug Adams, Spring Hill

Enjoy your home even if prices fall

So, now we see the prices of houses are coming down.

To some, this apparently means their homes are losing value or, in other words, aren't worth as much now as they were a year or two ago.

But what is "worth?" It depends entirely on what someone is willing to pay for it.

If you're looking at the TV shows and seeing the outrageous (to us) prices houses are selling for, consider these two things:

First, the shows were filmed at least two years ago, and, second, the featured homes were in the highest-priced markets in the country. Didn't see any homes featured in Spring Hill, did you? Where were they? San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, New York. Get the picture?

Before you weep too much, ask yourself this: "Is my house on the market? Would I sell it for less than I paid for it?" If the answer to these simple questions is "no," then you haven't lost a thing except maybe the expectation of making a big profit.

You might still be able to do that if your house is actually on the market for sale, and 7 if you find a buyer willing to pay what you're willing to take. Otherwise, you haven't gained or lost a thing.

Take heart. Don't worry about "losing" value. Sit back, relax, enjoy the nice home you have. Sure, we're all going to be slugged for property taxes based on last year's inflated appraisals, but that won't last any longer than the high prices did.

Spring Hill in sunny Florida is still a great place to live!

G B Leatherwood, Spring Hill

Re: Oil in trash bin? Not by mistake Dec. 11, letter to the editor

Owner took high road over trash oil

It is obvious by your letter, Mr. Clayton, that you do not know Norbert Holz. Yes, you are correct when you state the obvious that Mr. Holz owns the property where the oil disposal incident occurred, although you omitted the fact that he rents the property to various businesses.

We know Mr. Holz and are certain he had no responsibility in causing this serious breach, and had no idea that anything inappropriate was occurring on his property.

We also know, first-hand, that Mr. Holz is one of the most generous, honest and law-abiding members of our community we have had the pleasure to meet.

Mr. Holz could have pointed fingers to minimize his responsibility in this unfortunate matter, but, as usual, he simply stood up and did the honorable thing. He cleaned it up.

Mr. Clayton, perhaps your time could be better spent doing something good for our community, as Mr. Holz has already done on many occasions, rather than weighing water jugs to make a moot point.

If you took the time to really look into this matter before appointing yourself judge and jury, you would know that Mr. Holz also has a great sense of humor that will allow him to chuckle now that we call him "Slick." He did not deserve the criticism that you were so quick to offer. Merry Christmas.

Skip Monahan and family, Spring Hill

Re: Recent marijuana busts in Spring Hill

Pot on the block? Don't call Police

If you smell something strange on your block

that you remember years ago from Woodstock,

If you want it to cease,

you could call the Police,

but not the group that plays rock.

John Albert, Spring Hill

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[Last modified December 17, 2007, 19:53:04]