We recently performed a study of county spending for an interested member. Spending for county operations, not including debt service or capital expenditures, has grown from $36,996,720 in 1988 to $84,048,867 in 1997; an increase of about 133%. During that time the county population increased from 95,800 to 113,800, about 19%. This is ridiculous. The spending spiral can be stopped, our commissioners just have to decide to do it. No move has been made to control spending again this year.
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We hope the commissioners will place reduction of the high cost of county government in a Priority One position by adopting a budget process and format that lends itself to reducing expenditures, and insisting that the process be used. The cost of county government continues to rise, the commissioners refuse to take effective action.
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The county commission has voted to continue the legal actions against the City of Stuart for annexing property. Thousands of dollars in taxpayer money have been spent by the county, and by the city in defending their actions. We cannot afford anymore of this silliness. Drop the legal action, which has small possibility of success in any event. The county has not won many battles here but continues to fight the war with taxpayer money.
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The county has adopted a fee schedule that vastly increases all development and planning review fees, most increases far in excess of 100%. These increases are supposedly necessary to cover reasonable administrative costs and end taxpayer subsidies of these operations. We will therefore expect our taxes to be reduced by the amount collected via these fees, approximately $500,000 per year. Reductions effective 1999/2000 budget. We advise taxpayers not to hold their breath until this happens.
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The Regional Park was purchased with Lands For You money. Additional money from a temporary sales tax approved by the taxpayers was supposed to be used to develop the park. This was to be a regional park situated close to the center of the county and easily accessible from anywhere. So far, there has been controversy, additional study of wetlands on the site, but no development. If you as a taxpayers feel that you have been taken advantage of, you just might be correct. Something might be done this year, only three years behind schedule.
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The school district did finally privatize their transportation department. The estimated savings over the three-year program are $1,890,000. The county Utilities Department underwent a privatization study several years ago, and the result was a substantial saving. Two years ago, a number of taxpayers nominated by the various commissioners, spent several months studying privatization possibilities within county government and completed their assignment by making a number of privatization suggestions for further study. The result of all this work, suggested and approved by the commission, is sitting somewhere, untouched. No action at all has been taken on this matter. Another group of taxpayers wasted their time.
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The county has purchased another piece of land they cannot use, at a cost in excess of $700,000, for the county Health Department, which does need new quarters. Now, again after the money has been spent, the land must be rezoned. The rezoning must be done by the City of Stuart, who has no reason to do so. We think our legal experts have repeated this procedure often enough. It is high time they realize that taxpayer money is important. This is still in flux, but it is possible that significant state funding may be lost. The commissioners noted for procrastination, acted too fast in this instance.
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A survey covering a fairly diverse group of Martin County residents found that overall 82% of those interviewed were satisfied with county services. We don't know what this survey cost the taxpayers and we don't know if it was demographically accurate enough to mean anything. Not included in the final report were negative comments about commission micro-management, traffic problems, and the diversity of the industrial base. It is interesting that almost one of five people interviewed is dissatisfied with county government. Eighty-two percent (82%) is a C grade in our public schools. We haven't heard from any commissioner about this. Is everyone satisfied with a "C"?

Congestion on our roads does have a negative impact on our quality of life, but the administration's answer seems to be more study and more consultants, studying the same problems over and over again without any action. The Greenriver Parkway was supposed to provide traffic relief in the north county area, but after spending many thousands of studies the project seems to have been abandoned. The Indian Street bridge was planned, after considerable study some years ago, to provide relief for Palm City residents, but this example of planning ahead has been thoroughly derailed and is now being studies by yet another group. The western connection to Port St. Lucie was thoroughly researched some years ago, but it is now going through the same process again, although this time without any input from PSL, whose cooperation is vital to any such plan. The commissioners' only actions have been to ignore previous actions. Paralysis by analysis is a fact of life here.
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Our commissioners do not rely on the county staff, assembled at substantial cost to the taxpayers. Instead, we see increasing usage of outside experts to give advice, much of which is ignored. We think the people who live here and work for us should be able to make recommendations. If the commissioners do not feel that the present staff is competent they should find staff that is. Maybe the decision making process would be improved if the cost of the outside experts was deducted from the salaries of the people we elect to make these decisions. The commissioners continue to hire experts and ignore their advice. The cost to taxpayers is substantial.

W e encourage your comments, criticisms, ideas, or any questions about how your taxes work; call or fax 288-0474 or write to us at PO Box 741, Stuart, FL 34995 or e-mail us at admin@mctaxpayers.org or visit our WEB site, mctaxpayers.org.