Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Few more notches

After last year's record tax reductions by Hernando County Commissioners, they are still faced with additional, necessary reductions of over $9 million in their budget this year. Even though the "ax the tax' crowd has advocated slashing government services to the bone it will take careful budgetary reductions to meet this goal. The citizens and businesses of Hernando County have pulled in the belt a few more notches and it is good to see that several of our commissioners are being just as fiscally prudent with our local tax dollars.
Several weeks ago Commissioner David Russell discussed the numerous paid holidays for county employees as a method of reduction. He related his experience as a local business owner with the commission discussion, stating private business could not afford 12 paid holidays a year, nor could they afford pay increases with the down turn in the economy.
Yesterday, Commissioner Stabins said the plan to strengthen the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority made him sick to his stomach. David Russell jumped on board to say they want streamlined government services and do not want to grow the bureaucracy.
It is great to see these commissioners saw the redundancy in government services for this plan. Sometimes less is more when it comes to the fiduciary responsibility of our county government leaders. Kudos to David Russell and Jeff Stabins for standing up for the conservative principals of smaller government.

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