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Highlands Today

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Ed Dickerson

Published: February 13, 2008

I'm getting very irritated when the first thing elected city officials or government officials say is that we can't reduce taxes because we'll have to reduce services. They need to look at organizational structures, tasks and responsibilities and see how they can adjust. It's the citizens' money, not theirs. I am totally disgusted with the sheriff's office when they took extra money and divided it up for bonuses. This was ridiculous.

I can't believe we have lawyers and public relations people assigned to departments. I also can't believe we are hiring more people to manage county department heads. We already have a county administrator and assistant. I don't understand the extra layer for services. This is supposedly what a department head is paid to do.

I like seeing what other counties are doing, but to base salaries on other counties is a bad practice. We also have to look at the economy of our county. You don't have to pay higher salaries than before just to get qualified people.

I thought department heads were responsible for day-to-day operations. Why do we have to add another layer of bureaucracy? I don't look at the school district that much, but I'm hoping the school board is reviewing structures to ensure we manage cost savings. I know for a fact that technology reduces administrative staffing. I would also question some manager positions. Some ways that savings can happen is with centralized dispatch, county-wide fire services, review of police departments' tasks and there are many other ways.

Cities should keep police departments, but detective support, etc., could be an inter-local agreement with the sheriff's office.

I thought it interesting that I just saw an article about a two-person police department in a city of about 5,000-6,000 citizens. I'm not saying we should institute a drastic reduction, it also depends on the crime rates, but it does warrant review. Let's make sure we get back to the basics. Fees for some services is a good concept, especially for the building department or the like.

Ed Dickerson
Avon Park

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