Meaning spending reform needed

After watching the emergency budget workshop last Thursday, I began to wonder just who is running Hernando County government. The committee of 25, the county staff, Linda Hayward's petitions, the county commissioners, just who??? I commend Commissioner's Stabins, Hogan and Robinson for representing the people with a millage rate reduction but even their approach was short-sighted when you look at the long term needs of our rapidly expanding county. Trust in government is the essential element that Commissioner Stabins is trying to restore, by pushing for a large millage rate reduction in Ad Valorem taxes. The naysayers bring up the mere $36.00 this tax relief could bring to the homeowner in Hernando County. We were told this $36.00 would not even buy a tank of gas for an automobile. For someone watching their pennies, $36.00 could buy several pairs of inexpensive shoes for their children at Wal Mart. Speaking of Wal Mart, Commissioner Rowden threw out a large dollar figure that Wal Mart would save if an Ad Valorem rate reduction takes place this year like this was somehow evil. This type of analogy is a classic example of the demonization of corporate America played out by liberal democrats everyday across this nation. The problem with this type of analogy is corporations do not pay taxes, people do, and many small business entities across the county are being crippled by extremely high assessments on their businesses because there is no 3% cap on commercial property. Besides, I could never understand why corporations are criticized when they produce jobs, and wealth in America. Getting back to the point of being short-sighted when looking at the long term needs of Hernando County, none of the county commissioners ever mentioned cutting spending as a viable approach to budget control. Oh, a few sacrificial lambs were offered to cut spending several weeks ago by the county staff, but were pale in comparison to what is needed to be fiscally prudent with our tax dollars. Has anyone ever wondered why the county spending equals collected tax revenue? Its called projective budgeting, or locking up all monies collected by taxpayers. Sheriff Nugent stated at this workshop that if the county commissioners did not approve his budget he could go over their heads to the governor. One major job function of the county commission is to oversee the budget by being good stewards of our tax dollars. It is their responsibility to question the budgets of the sheriff, the clerk of court, the tax collector, the supervisor of elections, and the property appraiser but this was largely ignored during the budget review process. Yes, any constitutional officer can go directly to the governor if they think their budget is being jeopardized by the county commissioners but do you really think that would happen? The backlash for any constitutional officer having to justify their budget to the governor, let alone the citizens of Hernando County, would be political suicide. Its about time the county commissioners stand up to the challenge presented to them and question all budget entities, even the constitutional officers. Budget director, George Zoettlin, indicated at this workshop that a good credit rating is necessary for additional bonding, as in the bonding of the costs related to the old hospital renovation. It appeared that Commissioner Kingsley voted against tax relief based on these bond statements by Mr. Zoettlin. New bonding issues seemed to fly right under the radar scope of some of the county commissioners who were focused on tax relief for the citizens. Hernando County is already bonded up to the hilt with many projects like the new animal services building, the emergency operations building, two new libraries, and the purchase of Florida Water Services, not to mention the outstanding mortgages on several fire stations in Hernando County. What happened to save first, then buy approach for government services instead of putting our county further into debt? The implementation of zero-based budgeting should be a first start in correcting the age-old practices of the tax and spend mind-think of our elected officials. Meaningful spending reform and tax relief is essential to restoring our faith in the system before any discussion can take place on the future needs of county government.