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Highlands Today

County Cuts $1.5 Million, Adopts Budget

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: September 18, 2008

SEBRING - The Highlands County commissioners made 16 of 18 suggested last-minute budget cuts Tuesday night as they adopted the fiscal year 2008-09 budget.

The cuts totaled $1.5 million and, coupled with similar cuts by the sheriff, clerk of courts, supervisor of elections and tax collector, dropped the property tax rate by just under one-fourth of a mill.

For the owner of a home with a taxable value of $100,000, the current tax rate of 7.33 mills results in a property tax bill of $735. By setting a new millage rate of 7.10 mills, the commissioners dropped that tax bill by $25, to $710.

If the commissioners had made the full 1/3-mill cut under consideration, going down to 7 mills, that same tax bill would have dropped another $11 per year, going down to $699.

The main reason that tax bill didn't drop by the extra $11 is the county commissioners saying "no" to two proposed cuts. They refused to reduce pay raises for county employees from 3 percent to 2 percent, and also rejected cutting 10 percent, or $74,750, from the recreation money distributed to the three municipalities every year.

At the two evening public hearings on the budget over the previous two weeks, about a dozen people each night complained of high taxes and tough economic times, and most called for deep cuts in county spending for substantial tax relief.

Commissioners responded by saying they would consider dropping the millage rate by 1/3 of a mill, from the current 7.33 to 7.0 mills, and ordered county Administrator Michael Wright to suggest budget cuts to make that reduction.

Commissioners Andy Jackson and Edgar Stokes were adamantly against cutting the planned pay raise for county employees.

Because they are having a tough time with $4 gas and higher prices for food and everything else, Jackson said, "I gave substantially bigger (than 3 percent) raises to my employees."

Jackson, an attorney in private practice, added, "I was able to do it and I was happy to do it." He said county employees deserve at least a 3 percent raise against the rising cost of living. Commissioner Guy Maxcy looked at Jackson and quipped, "You must be doing OK."

"We're eating three times a day, so far," Jackson gently quipped back.

Maxcy and Commissioner Barbara Stewart wanted to go further than cutting pay raises from 3 to 2 percent and, instead, give every employee a one-time, lump sum increase of $750 for the next fiscal year only.

Maxcy argued that because times are tough economically for many people in the private sector, "I believe the will of the people in this great county is to make further (budget) cuts."

Stewart and Maxcy lost on the pay issue, as Jackson and Stokes were joined by Commissioner Don Bates to keep the planned 3 percent pay raises.

Stokes stood out as the only commissioner who was against all of the last-minute cuts.

"I'm not for any of these cutbacks," he said, particularly the proposed cut in pay raises.

"All of these cuts are services, and they're not going to help the taxpayers by more than 2 percent (reduction in taxes)," Stokes said. As far as the tax relief from the budget cuts, he said, "it's not doing much ...

"It's not going to help (taxpayers) that much," he added, "but it's going to hurt services."

Stewart said the cuts amounted to starting to cut the cost of government "prudently" in preparation for the next fiscal year, starting Oct. 1, 2009, when big cuts will have to be made because the county's property valuation is expected to drop by 10 percent to 20 percent, which will slash tax revenue.

"I don't think any of these (cuts) are going to adversely affect the services," Stewart said.

"It's just a token reduction," Bates said of the property tax reduction. "We don't have the option to make big cuts in the millage," he said, because the commissioners "have responsibility to provide good services."

Wright and Maxcy said much of the frustration and anger over taxes should be directed at the state government, not local commissions and councils.

"(Gov.) Charlie Crist and some legislators said you were going to get a big tax break," Maxcy told the crowd of about 100 people in the commission chambers. When he quickly added, "Did you?", a groan and a chorus of "no" came from the audience.

For the tax burden on residents for local and state government, Wright said, Florida ranks fourth lowest among the 50 states. Only Alaska, Wyoming and Nevada have lower tax burdens, he said.

"Florida is a low-tax state," Wright said. "But," he added, "Florida is a very unfair tax state."

For about a decade, he said, the governor and Legislature have been shifting the tax burden away from Homestead homes and onto non-Homestead homes and businesses. Wright also said the state has cut funding for schools and shifted a greater tax burden for education onto local school districts and thus onto local taxpayers.

In the public hearing before the commissioners adopted the budget for fiscal 2008-09 Tuesday night, several residents calling for budget cuts and reduced taxes received a smattering of applause from the audience.

One person received a long and very loud round of applause, and he was the only one who spoke of the importance of maintaining good services with sufficient funding.

Tommy Parker started his presentation with a question, asking, "Could you imagine a county without law enforcement and the tools they need?"

He then said he was a former prisoner at the Highlands County Jail who was on the road to personal ruin, but turned his life around with the help of the county's Jail Alternative to Substance Abuse (JASA) program.

"Can you imagine the cost to the county when I was running around wild?" Parker said. By getting out of crime and drugs, and starting his own construction company, he said, "I am a savings to the county right now."

"I was blessed" to have graduated from JASA drug rehab program, Parker said, and added that he now tries to help other ex-offenders turn their lives around and live drug- and crime-free. Parker said one way he does that is by hiring ex-offenders and encouraging other construction companies to do so, too, so that people released from jail can become productive citizens.

Parker concluded by holding up a four-by-six inch photograph which, from the speaker's rostrum, nobody could see, so he described the picture.

"This is a photo of me, reading a bed time story to my infant son," he said. "Can anybody put a price on that?"

Loud applause erupted just as Parker was adding three more words: "It's priceless."

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

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