Letters to the Editors

Management problems hurt county's taxpayers

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 9, 2001

As a regular viewer of the Pinellas County Commission meetings on Channel 18, I am appalled at how we manage capital expenditure projects. Projects get delayed and over budget and no one seems to know why. Flimsy excuses like unanticipated redesigns are paraded to mask disregard for proper control of costs and schedules.

A case in point is the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's palazzo, originally budgeted at $2.5-million and which is now anticipated to exceed $10-million. The cost overrun is blamed on an original bad estimate. We are blameless -- the devil made us do it! Pasco County is not asked to share the capital cost overrun. Almost $10-million Pinellas tax dollars evaporate for other projects. Pinellas County's action plan: Sock it to the taxpayers.

In the real world, heads roll and companies go bankrupt with performance such as this. But in the exalted world of public works, with minimal oversight, there is always that UN-endangered and abused species known as "the taxpayer."

So now, after blowing away a lot of our tax dollars and draining the Penny-for-Pinellas account, the Pinellas County interim administrator reportedly wants to sock county taxpayers with a "modest" 5 percent (15 percent for unincorporated areas) tax increase, over and beyond the 9 percent increase in the tax base. Things are out of control!
-- J. L. Coppen, Indian Rocks Beach

County should cut back, not raise taxes

Re: County tax rate might increase, story, June 29.

What planet do you think the people of Pinellas County are on?

Now you figure you have outdated voting equipment? It has to become a national issue before the Pinellas County administration does something about it?

But we certainly have the solution. Raise taxes!

I have a better idea. Instead of evaluating your voting equipment, evaluate the whole picture, then read the business section of your own paper and cut back, like everyone else has to do. Look for other resources. If higher government is requiring you to make these changes, go to them for help. They are the ones that took issue with our voting system, which was right anyway.

All the rhetoric about all the research you had to do to come up with this proposal really falls upon deaf ears when it eventually affects the pocket of Pinellas County citizens.

And what I like best is the Times' example of the resident who has a home that is assessed at $75,000 and with a $25,000 homestead exemption the increase in taxes would be only $16.50 for the year. Now that doesn't sound like very much, but I really do not think that the Pinellas County administration is looking at the citizens whose taxes will increase only $16.50. How about those citizens whose homes are assessed at $300,000 to $1.5-million (which is becoming the norm for Pinellas County lately)? Why don't you use that increase as an example? The calculation would be about $1,100 and $6,500 respectively.
-- Nikki M. Christu, Tarpon Springs

City manager search seems unnecessary

We made a mistake with the last Clearwater city manager. Interim Manager Bill Horne has done a great job; even the City Commission suggested the city abandon the national search and hire Mr. Horne permanently.

So why are we wasting city money on a search? Bill Horne is the best man for the job. Commissioners had faith in him as interim city manager, so let him have the job.
-- George G. Peruzzi, Executive vice president Communications Workers of America Local 3179

Letter criticizing police was unfair

Re: Police bossiness seen several times, letter, June 26.

The recent letter from Judith Douglas of Seminole about "police bossiness" was way over the top. Ms. Douglas seems to be looking much too diligently for the most infinitesimal aberration by a police officer.

We came here from New York City five years ago and haven't encountered even one incident of "police bossiness." Ms. Douglas says a police officer hit her in the head with a door while entering a store. Maybe he was preoccupied. She goes on to tell us she has seen officers screaming at citizens. How do we know what occurred prior to those incidents?

What was most disturbing was this line: "It is the 20 percent of the Gestapo that is giving the rest a bad name." Gestapo? Did Ms. Douglas think about the implication of that comparison? No, I'm not a retired policeman; I don't even have policeman relatives.
-- Laurence Veras, Clearwater

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