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Highlands Today

County Considering Extra Budget Cuts

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: September 7, 2008

SEBRING - Highlands County commissioners agreed to consider last-minute budget cuts which would drop the property tax millage rate from 7.3354 to 7 mills even.

Commissioners Don Bates, Guy Maxcy and Edgar Stokes said they will consider that option after they heard eight citizens complain about high taxes and tough economic times at Thursday evening's public hearing on the county budget.

Michael Wright, county administrator, said the five constitutional officers - sheriff, clerk of courts, property appraiser, tax collector, and supervisor of elections - should also be asked to consider the same proportional budget cuts.

Of the county's total proposed budget for fiscal year 2008-09, which begins Oct. 1, the county commissioners account for only $32 million out of total county spending of $167 million, Wright said.

As a result, he said, further budget cuts by the county commissioners would not mean much unless the five constitutional officers further cut their budgets, too.

Wright said the big problem causing people to complain about taxes doesn't lie with the county commission, but with the governor and state legislature.

A respected nationwide analysis of taxes, he said, found Florida the third lowest among the 50 states for the total tax burden on residents from local and state governments.

The study also found, Wright said, that Florida is "probably one of the most unfairly taxed states," with large tax breaks for some groups of property owners and no tax breaks for other groups.

Wright said virtually all of the citizens who complained about their tax bills and called for deep cuts in county spending don't have the Homestead Exemption.

"A person who bought a house last year will pay a lot more in taxes than the person in the same house (identical value) across the street who's been there for 10 years," Wright said.

Steve Fruit, a Realtor, was one of eight citizens who commented at the public hearing, with each one calling for big budget cuts and lower tax bills.

"Make deep, Draconian cuts in spending ... and then watch the county grow back into prosperity," Fruit said, repeating the same plea he made to the county commissioners at an evening budget workshop two weeks ago.

Bates said "deep, Draconian" cuts won't be considered, because that would devastate essential county services which people depend on.

If the commissioners made additional and deep budget cuts, Bates said, "this room (commission chambers) could not hold all the people who would come and say, 'What have you done to our county?'"

Bates said "deep cuts" would raise the following questions, to both the public and the commissioners.

•"Do you want to reduce the number of EMS crews?" he asked.

•"Do you want to reduce the number of (sheriff's) deputies?

•"Do you want the number of roads resurfaced reduced? And do you want the number of drainage ditches cleared out reduced?

•"If you think drainage ditches are not important," Bates added, "you should have been with me the morning after (Tropical Storm) Fay hit."

•Bates recalled watching county Road and Bridge Department crews working to clear drainage ditches to relieve flooding that threatened homes in many parts of the southern end of the county.

Bates said he would consider, but not yet commit to, cutting county spending further, but he would not go lower than dropping the millage rate from 7.3354 to 7 mills. He, Maxcy and Stokes instructed county budget staff to recommend what cuts to make to drop the property tax rate to 7 mills.

Since one mil brings in about $5 million, cutting another 1/3 mill would add another $1.7 million to the $2 million in budget cuts already made.
Maxcy said he would consider going down to the 7-mills level, but not by making budget cuts. Instead, he said, he would consider drawing another $1.7 million from the county's reserve or "rain day" fund to make up the revenue from going down to 7 mills.

With tax revenue down and costs rising, the commissioners already have drawn about $8 million from the "rain day" fund to keep operations in the next fiscal year about the same as this year.

The reserve fund - kept to operate the county in extreme emergencies, like a direct hit on the Highlands County by a major hurricane - was built up to $24 million over the past five years.

While another withdrawal from the reserve fund would leave less in case of a hurricane or other emergency, Maxcy said, he would prefer doing that over cutting operations to get down to 7 mils as the property tax rate.

"We don't want to cut services," Maxcy said. "We're paving half the roads per year that we should be doing."

Stokes backed the idea of considering further budget cuts until Sept. 16, when the commissioners must hold their final public hearing and then adopt the budget for 2008-09.

Sheriff Susan Benton, the only one of the five constitutional officers at the public hearing on the budget, said her office would go along with the county commissioners if they call for further budget cuts.

Benton also said she would go along with delaying construction of the new $11.1 million sheriff's Law Enforcement Building if commissioners decided that was necessary due to current economic conditions. Most of the cut-spending speakers were critical of going ahead with this project, and several called for a "citizens review" committee to determine if it is necessary.

"If you decide now is not the time to go on with the building, the men and women of the Highlands County Sheriff's Office will still do their jobs, because they are passionate about what they do," Benton told the commissioners.

"Unfortunately," Benton added, "we see the end result of the devastation of the economic situation." In addition to crime, Benton said, there have been "two cases in which (the person) took their own lives because they saw no way out."

Later in the meeting, when Wright called for the five constitutional officers to consider cuts equal to what the commissioners are considering, Lisa Burley, the sheriff's chief of staff, said Benton agreed to cooperate and do the same.

"The sheriff told us (top staff) to sharpen our pencils and make proportional cuts and to have it on her desk by tomorrow afternoon," Burley said. She estimated that would mean cutting the sheriff's budget by about $500,000.

"That's just a rough guess right now," Burley told Highlands Today just after the public hearing ended.

"We would love public input (about the need for a new Law Enforcement Building)," Burley added. "We would love to have people tour our facilities and see our existing conditions."

L.E. ("Luke") Brooker, the retiring clerk of courts, said Friday that if the county commissioners cut their budget, he would cut the clerk's budget by the same percentage. Meanwhile, Raymond McIntyre, the county property appraiser, said Friday he has already cut his budget by 9.62 percent and he can cut it no further.

"Our office," Brooker said, "has always tried to be a team player as far as cooperating with the county and their needs. And we certainly plan on being part of it this time as well.

"We understand what the ramifications would be to our budget (of cuts), but we're prepared to go ahead with what the county commissioners would ask for," he added.

"My response," McIntyre said Friday, "is that I have already reduced my budget 9.62 percent. I came into this budget cycle knowing that these are lean times ... and so I'm as bare bones as I can get in my budget.

"This reduction in my budget reflects the fact I tried to cut out everything I could and reduce costs everywhere I could," McIntyre added. "I don't see any room to move beyond the 9.62 percent that I have already cut."

McIntyre said his budget is about $3 million, the lowest of any county office except for the supervisor of elections. McIntyre said further cuts in his budget would have little impact on overall county spending, and added that his spending plans are "already bare bones."

The other constitutional officers - Tax Collector Charles Bryan and Supervisor of Elections Joe Campbell - could not be reached for comment Friday.

Among the citizens speaking, Chip Boring, a Realtor, and Jeri Canale, the Democratic candidate for county commissioner in District 3, warned that Highlands County, which depends on population growth for economic health, is and will continue to lose people because of the poor economy and high taxes.

"Our population is declining," said Boring, a Realtor. The county has a high percentage of elderly people, he said, and so if more elderly don't move in, the population will shrink as senior citizens already here pass away.

"Some of those people," he said, referring to the elderly, "don't stay here very long, and it's not voluntary."

Canale said that in addition to elderly people dying off, school enrollment in the county school district is down 553 students this year from last school year.

"That tells me," Canale said, "that the working class is moving on and moving out (of Highlands County)."

Fruit complained of a tax system which he said is not hurting those with the Homestead Exemption but is heaping higher taxes on businesses, non-Homestead property owners, and seasonal residents.

That type of tax system, which favors some and hurts others, he said, is a big factor in the whopping housing inventory, now three times normal.

In Highlands County's typical economy, Fruit said, houses on the market make up an inventory (for sales) of eight months. "Now," he said, "depending on how you work the numbers, it's between 22 to 26 months."

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

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