Did Crist Pull A Fast One On Highlands County?

Highlands County officials have every right to be upset with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. That's because he's apparently broke his promise to Highlands County and every other "fiscally constrained" county in Florida that will take a big tax hit. The citizens of Highlands County should be just as upset and make sure the governor's office knows about it.

When Amendment One was put on the ballot, it was written into the law that Florida's fiscally constrained counties would not suffer the tax cuts associated with it. Crist pushed hard for Amendment One, which doubled the homestead exemption and provided portability of Save Our Homes.

Highlands County, along with Hardee, Hendry, Glades, DeSoto and Okeechobee counties all are considered fiscally constrained due to lower wages, poverty and other factors. Our own Rep. Denise Grimsley argued against Highlands being considered "constrained" but seems to distance herself from those remarks these days. Now Highlands County is asking her and the rest of our legislative delegation to make sure Highlands gets the $5 million that was promised.

Crist didn't put the $26 million required to reimburse these counties in his budget. That means the money won't be there. Either Crist simply overlooked this fact, or he pulled one of the biggest bait and switch cons in Florida history. If it's the latter, he should feel ashamed for doing that, especially on rural counties that can least afford it.

Cutting $5 million out of Highlands County's budget is no easy task. Office positions have been cut and all that's left to cut are essential services.

Like most Highlands County residents, we're surprised Crist would do something like this. Whether we agreed with his policies or disagreed, we never believed he would break a promise. That seems to be the case, though, and if it is, it won't be forgotten.