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Highlands Today

Citizens Call For Deep Budget Cuts

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By JIM KONIKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: August 17, 2008

SEBRING - Highlands County Commissioner Andy Jackson, seeking re-election to another four-year term, said people tell him the same three things at every campaign stop he makes.

Those three things, Jackson said, are:

"Cut the budget. Cut the budget. Cut the budget."

At Thursday night's public workshop on the county's new fiscal year 2008-09 budget, Jackson said cutting the budget is the worst thing the commissioners could do during this time of economic recession.

The county would have had to cut about $8 million from operations funding, but commissioners built up a reserve or emergency account of $24 million over the past six years, Jackson said.

Jackson said now is the time to draw down $8 million from that emergency fund to avoid deep cuts and lay-offs, and to go ahead with capital improvement projects, including the $11.2 million new building to house the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.

"You don't want to cut the (county) government's budget now," Jackson said after 10 people each said the county commission should cut spending and lower taxes to help people struggling through the recession.

"You need to spend the reserves and stimulate the economy," Jackson said. He said he certainly doesn't condone or support any wasteful government spending.

"Spend them (tax dollars) wisely and prudently, and create jobs, stimulate the local economy," Jackson said in response for people's calls for budget cutting. Jackson said he supports the proposed budget, which draws on the emergency funds to maintain services and staff levels, doesn't raise taxes, and goes ahead with planned capital improvement projects.

If the county payroll is cut now and construction projects are postponed, he said, that would further hurt the local economy and keep work away from work-hungry construction companies.

County Commissioner Don Bates agreed with Jackson's stand on the budget.

"We need to fast track the projects that we have in our capital works plan and stimulate the economy and put people back to work," Bates said.

Ten people commented about the proposed budget during the three-hour workshop.

"I ask you to make Draconian, dramatic cuts in the budget," said Realtor Steve Fruit.

Fruit said the county has "a phenomenal staff" of hard working employees who do a good job. But, he said, about 60 percent of homeowners don't have the Save Our Homes tax exemption and are getting whacked by high taxes.

Newcomers to the county also won't have the Save Our Homes tax break either, he said, and that's adding to the woes of the real estate industry. Because times are tough, he said, the county should severely cut its budget and reduce taxes.

Warren Wolf, a retired Broward County sheriff's deputy and a Realtor who owns Woody's RV Resort, said the winter could be tough financially because many snowbirds may not come down.

Most snowbirds reserve winter lots at his RV resort a year in advance, Wolf said. At this time of the year, he said, he normally has five or fewer lots left for reservations. But he now has 31 un-reserved lots.

Former customers from the North have told him they won't come down this year with $4 per gallon gasoline, he told the county commissioners. Wolf said if he doesn't, as appears likely, fill up those 31 vacant lots this winter, "that represents almost $100,000 in revenues lost for a three-month season."

Former county commissioner Jeri Canale, running now for a seat on the county commission, said the budget needs to be cut because "people are hurting and property values are down."

"Get your pencils nice and sharp and cut the budget," Canale said. She said commissioners should especially reduce funding for parks and recreation.

Marlene Barger of Lake Placid also called on the commissioners to cut spending. She said she recently visited downtown Avon Park.

"It was stunning to me," she said about seeing the many closed and vacant stores in that city's downtown. Barger said she also visited Sebring's Circle for the first time in years and was shocked at how many vacant stores she saw there.

Because many people are struggling financially in the down economy, Barger said, the county should not only cut the total budget but also not go ahead with the proposed across-the-board 3 percent pay raises.

Barger recommended 3 percent raises for the lowest paid county employees, 2 percent raises for people a little higher up on the wage scale, 1 percent raises for people in the middle, and no raises at all for the county's highest paid employees.

"I want to echo her sentiments," Mike Brown, a former candidate for sheriff, said as he followed Barger to the speaker's podium.

"Our local businesses are hurting and doors are closing," Brown said. He said commissioners should look for other, possibly lower cost, alternatives to building a new building for the sheriff's office.

Bates and Jackson were responding to the comments of the citizens quoted above, and others who expressed similar sentiments.

Commissioner Barbara Stewart also commented, at length. She proposed doing away with a 3 percent raise for county workers and instead giving each employee the same amount in a one-time, lump-sum payment, to be set somewhere between $750 to $1,000.

Such a plan would provide more help to the lower paid county employees, since it would be more than a 3 percent increase of their salaries, she said.

Stewart said she agreed with all the citizens about the shape of the economy.

"These are really bleak times for our public ... our economy is really hurting," she said. Builders, she added, are asking commissioners to "fast-track" county building projects so they can get work.

Stewart said deep budget cuts are not possible, particularly because the state, having its own budget woes, will probably shift "financial burdens" which it used to handle onto counties and cities.

"You can't just start slashing and cutting" the county budget, Stewart said.

But, she said, county officials can reduce costs by "starting on the little things that add up."

Stewart said she will ask county staff to look into cutting or reducing costs for:

•The half million dollars spent annually on training and seminars, and dues, memberships and subscriptions to professional organizations - not cutting those needed to keep county employees certified or licensed to do their jobs;

•Office supplies, including mounds of paper that may not be necessary;

•Cell phones

•Allowing some employees to drive their county vehicles home;

•Purchase of new office furniture; and, most of all

•Reviewing if the $11.2 million Sheriff's building is needed.

Stewart said she didn't see enough options when the new sheriff's building was approved, and she'd like to review that project.

"Another concern is the 3 percent pay raise for staff," Stewart said.

"The problem I have with the cost-of-living (raise) is that we have many people out there who are lucky just to have a job."

In September, the commissioners will schedule two formal public hearings on the budget, both in the evening. The last hearing will be on Sept. 16. After hearing public comments, the five-member board will vote to adopt the budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.

Commissioners Edgar Stokes and Guy Maxcy did not comment at Thursday's evening budget workshop. Stokes simply chaired the meeting but didn't comment, while Maxcy was absent.

The comments of Stewart, Bates and Jackson that drastic budget cuts can't or shouldn't be made didn't change the mind of Kathy Hines, who addressed the commissioners twice.

"You just need to find a way to lower taxes," Hines said.

"This isn't the time to have raises, this isn't a time to build a sheriff's building," she also said.

Hines said that without tax relief, more people will start moving out of Highlands County because they can't afford to live here, and tax revenue will go down further.

"You can't get water," Hines told the commissioners, "out of a dry well."

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