When dollars are short, tempers are, too
In a year of tight finances, county leaders are forced to make tough, unpopular choices.
By DAVID DeCAMP, Times Staff Writer
Published December 31, 2007
Pasco County just went in circles this year.
County leaders began 2007 worrying how to handle potential state-mandated property tax cuts. They ended it the same way. Tight finances, taxes or insurance rates rippled through most issues in county government.
The most intense events involved a three-month dispute with Sheriff Bob White over his budget for 2007-08.
White requested an $11.2-million budget increase, adding 109 positions, and it led to a testy standoff. After days of hearings, White's agency received $2.6-million more for 2007-08, about a 3 percent increase.
White complained before and after that the budget would leave law enforcement hamstrung as crime increased.
The county had other concerns. The Legislature made it cut property tax rates 3 percent. The cut was among the lowest in the state, and new construction actually allowed the county to receive $8-million more over last year in property taxes.
But rising costs and flat revenue from the state and other sources crimped spending. Libraries cut a popular music series. Parks raised fees for using ballfields and the Anclote River boat ramp. Bills for county ambulance rides were raised.
Tight spending caused turmoil in other ways.
Without enough money to meet residents' demands, county officials quietly reduced the paratransit ride service in August. It provides rides to medical appointments and grocery stores to needy people. The commission restored much of the service after a Times report revealed public anger and that the decision to cut back service was made unbeknownst to County Administrator John Gallagher.
But the county is reviewing whether to slice money in 2008 for nonprofit ride services to keep the paratransit program, prompting more disagreement.
When it wasn't taxes, it was property insurance. With rates high, the most far-reaching change for Pasco that passed was cutting coverage. Backed by county officials, lawmakers passed a bill that will allow insurers to make sinkhole coverage optional. It will reduce rates - and end coverage for all but catastrophic collapses.
Sinkhole claims fueled the premium increases, and county officials also changed permitting rules to more accurately document more work on houses with sinkhole activity reported.
But claims still kept going up despite the changes, and Pasco maintained its ranking as the sinkhole-claim capital of Florida.
The county did find money to put the final touches on plans for its 15-court tennis stadium complex in Wesley Chapel near Saddlebrook Resort. It took five years of delays and another $2.2-million in tourism tax money, raising the cost to $7.9-million. Construction should start in 2008.
Years of fast growth also caught up to the road budget - and then raced past the county's ability to pay for construction to relieve congested traffic. More than $900-million in projects over about a decade were pushed back, even though impact fees on new construction were doubled to be among the highest in Florida.
A committee anchored by the development industry tried to avoid higher impact fees, but its proposed solution involved raising property taxes. The County Commission dispatched the idea.
The county will begin 2008 by replacing retiring County Attorney Robert Sumner with Jeffrey Steinsnyder, a former assistant Manatee County attorney arriving from private practice in Bradenton.
And Jan. 29, Pasco comes full circle to a statewide referendum that would cut property taxes - and again vex county officials about how to pay for services.
David DeCamp can be reached at ddecamp@sptimes.com or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6232.