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Highlands Today

New County Adminstrator To Put Parkway On Back Burner

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Michael Wright has his hands full with work as the new county administrator.

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: August 17, 2008

SEBRING - The Highlands County commissioners brought Michael Wright here 78 days ago as their new chief executive officer with one main mission: to make the hard decisions on a tough-times budget caused by the recession.

Highlands County, though, dodged the bullet of deep budget cuts for fiscal year 2008-09, which starts Oct. 1, for one reason.

The county commissioners built up their reserve, or "rainy day" fund, to $24 million over the past six years. Now, Wright said, when the financial "rainy days" have come, they can pull out about $8 million to cover declining revenues and maintain current levels of service.

Wright, the county's administrator, said that's the only reason he was able to present the no-new-taxes and no-lay-offs budget which commissioners are considering now.

But, he said, the county won't be able to dip into its reserve/"rainy day" fund next year to maintain day-to-day operations. At least $16 million must be kept in that fund to cover unforeseen emergencies.

Or, put another way: Hurricanes happen.

"It's going to be tougher (financially) for the county next year," Wright said Monday afternoon as he and Office of Management and Budget staff were preparing for the first public hearing on the fiscal year 2008-09 budget, which has to be adopted by Sept. 16.

"The Florida economy is going to recover, it will come back, probably, I think, within the next year or so," Wright said. "And it's going to come back to what it was in the early years of this decade, when the growth was slow and steady, not like the years of 2004 and later, when there was the boom."

The main reason for Wright's optimism that the Florida economy will rebound in the not too distant future?

"People still move to Florida," he answered.

Realtors and builders might wish for an explosive spurt of economic growth to make up for their lost income in the current recession.

Wright, though, will be more than happy if this county's economy, anchored by new home building, gets back to "slow and steady" growth, and there is no feeding frenzy by get-rich-quick investors trying to cash in on the speculative home buying called "flipping."

"When you have a 'boom' you're in a boom-and-bust cycle," Wright said. "And when you get the boom you're always going to get the bust, too."

Even if the Highlands County economy breaks out of recession and gets back to its pre-boom health next year, Wright said, "it's still going to be a tough year for local government next (fiscal) year (2009-10)."

That is due to the mechanics of government, in which taxes for a good economic year are collected and spent a year later, he explained.

So, despite his positive prediction of renewed economic health for Florida in general and Highlands County in particular, Wright said there will probably have to be budget cutting, and possibly elimination of some programs, in the county's fiscal year 2009-10.

"There may be programs we may have to do without," he said.

Cutting would be tough, Wright said, because he has found that the county's current operations, with just over 400 full-time employees, "are pretty lean."

While specifics on possible budget cuts are a year away, Wright said he's already planning on substantial changes in the county's Road and Bridge Department.

"I think we'll be shifting away from road building and do more in maintenance and resurfacing and taking care of our neighborhood streets," he said. "And the streets in our neighborhoods can use it."

Wright said he will recommend putting Phases Three and Four of the Sebring Parkway Project on hold indefinitely once Phase II, currently underway, is finished in fiscal year 2008-09.

"It (parkway phases three and four) will go on the 'back burner,' until we get enough money to build it," Wright said. "And that's for financial reasons more than anything else."

Phase two is extending the four-lane, limited access highway from Ridgewood Avenue to U.S. 27 where Highlands Avenue now ends at U.S. 27. The parkway will replace Highlands Avenue from U.S. 27 to where the parkway now ends near the Amtrak Station.

Phases three and four of the parkway will begin at the highway's well known 90-degree turn, which will be converted into a major four-way intersection with traffic signals some day. Phase Three will run from there to South Florida Community College and Phase Four will run out to Arbuckle Creek Road.

Wright has put county staff to work on two changes he hopes to implement as soon as possible.

The first is adopting a written policy on the use of county cell phones. There is no such policy now.

"I asked three people to develop a written policy on the use of county cell phones, and they're working on that now," Wright said. As far using his county cell phone, Wright said, "I never take it out of the county car, unless it has to be charged, and then I bring it into the office and put it on the charger."

Wright said he has followed that personal policy in all of his previous public service jobs.

"If I make a personal call, I make it on my personal cell phone," he said.

Wright said county workers should have clear and written rules on how they can use the phones that taxpayers supply them with.

The second change, which will take longer to accomplish, is streamlining the county's review and approval processes for development plans. His No. 1 goal is to make the review and permit process "more timely," he said, and he also wants the rules "more easily understood."

As a possible cost-cutter, Wright also will review the policy of allowing some employees to drive their county vehicles home.

Wright has another project, which he has handed off to Office of Management and Budget staff, with a deadline of one year from now.

Simply put, Wright wants the next county budget, for 2009-10, to be simpler, so that citizens can understand it whether or not they have a background in finance.

There was no time to revamp it this year, as the budget planning was already well under way when Wright became the county's chief executive on June. 1

"We're going to turn the battleship around next year," he said. "Our goal, I told our guys, is to get the budget process to where you (a citizen getting the information from county officials) can understand it and explain it to your mother."

To do the best possible budget presentation to the public this year, Wright had OMB Director Bernis Gainer, Budget Analyst Tim Mechling and other county personnel run through a practice budget presentation Monday afternoon.

And Wright invited two citizens, Ray Royce and Susie Bishop, to listen to it, ask questions, and then critique how the county's financial staff explained budget issues and handled questions.

"I asked two people to give us their feedback, and I picked those two only because I knew them as people who attend every county commission meeting," Wright said.

Like a football coach (and Wright is a Florida State University alumnus and a huge Seminoles backer), Wright hoped for a productive, get-the-bugs-out last practice before the game time of Thursday evening's first public budget hearing.

"I think it's important to communicate well with people on every issue," Wright said. "And the county budget is probably the most important issue. It is the most important thing the county commissioners do every year."

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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