Hospital Review Board

A few years ago, the citizens of Martin County voted to tax themselves

in order to pay for hospital care and physician's services for those of us

who could not afford it. The rate of taxation is one quarter mil. In

1999/2000, this Board approved expenditures for 300 individual cases, physicians

expenses, out of county claims, and administration costs totaling

$1,565,471.86.

The one quarter mil tax in 1999/2000 raised $2,301,231 in taxes.

Therefore, after the costs, a balance of $735,159.14 was turned over to

the General Fund. We have repeatedly inquired as to what happens to the

monies turned over to the General Fund from the Hospital Review Board,

as well as from other departments. We've been told that if the monies

were originally taxed and allocated for health services, then in some

way, it will be spent on health services. If it were originally

allocated for roads, in some way it will be spent on transportation.

While that may be so, we find no trail that would lead one to accept

this as fact, nor has anyone been able to specify, for example, the

other "health services" nor the amount paid for them.

The General Fund is apparently what is being spent by our county

commission at any given commission meeting. This is the source of funds

for all the special interest groups who come and plead before the county

commission. It would be interesting to get a total figure from all the

county departments. In light of all this, it is also interesting to note

that, each year, the department budgets show a close-out of the same

amount that they budgeted for, yet there are budget transfers going on

all year long. For instance, there was a recent budget transfer to pay

for unanticipated overtime for Fire Rescue and communications, as

mentioned in our last column. We continue to seek the answers to these

questions, and are sure that other organizations are interested in

getting these questions answered too.

***

Several months ago, Martin County Administration invited representatives

of the Taxpayers Association to assist selected departments in

establishing their benchmarks for budget year 00-01. Such benchmarks were

information derived from comparing the performance of our operations

with standards established nationally, statewide, with "partner"

counties willing to share and compare such information with us as well

as from year to year.

Several departments exhibited a keen knowledge of how our operations

compared with others. One, in particular, was the Martin County Library

System, whose stated benchmarks are as follows:

Administration - Martin County Library funds $22.65 per capita for

operations. The Florida average is $19.95, while the national average

is $24.20.

Library Facilities - The Morgdale Library will open in Summer 2001,

bringing the library system's total square footage to 84,255 square feet

(or .06 square feet per capita), which is the Florida Standard

recommendation for Basic Level of Service. All Martin County library

locations offer a variety of weekday, evening and weekend hours

operating at a Basic level of service per week (48 hours - Florida

Standards). The Blake Library meets Full Level of Service at 68 hours

per week. State Standards for Comprehensive Level of Service is 76 open

hours per week.

Library Automation & Technical Support - In FY 99/00 electronic resource

users at Martin County Library increased 11% from FY 98/99. Statewide

comparative data will be available in FY 00/01.

Acquisitions - Florida Standards recommend libraries have up-to-date

collections with a minimum of 25% of the materials published within the

last five years. Martin County Library System has a total of 256,047

volumes with 88,711 bearing 1995 or newer copyright dates. The library

surpasses minimum standards with a 35% updated collection. Florida

Standards recommend that at least 20% of library operating budgets be

allocated to the purchase of library materials and access to information

services. Martin County Library System allocated 29% of its budget for

these purchases. Florida Standards recommend two volumes per capita to

meet the Basic Level of Service. Martin County Library System, with FY

01, will increase its collection to 277,468 volumes, which is 1.98

volumes per capita Level of Service.

Public Library Community and Educational Services - Martin County

Library System has 47% of county population as registered users.

Florida average is 48.55%, while the national average is 51.5%. Martin

County Library patron visits average 4.3 per year which is the same as

the national average. The average for the State of Florida is 3.41.

Martin County Library reference questions average 90% user

satisfaction. The national average is 50%. Twenty-five percent of

Martin County's population (all ages) attend library sponsored

programs. The State average per capita circulation is 4.83. Martin

County Library system's per capita circulation is 5.3.

Most department benchmarking emphasized service rather than cost

parameters, which is quite typical for government operations. For

instance, we would have included a benchmark for our libraries to

compare our use of volunteer labor (as a ratio of salaried labor) to

that of neighboring counties.

We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this process, and in the

next round of benchmarking exercises, we will try harder to infuse more

cost-related comparisons.

***

For the second meeting in a row, our outgoing commission has fleeced the

taxpayers in the handling of the County Attorney’s job.

First, Commissioner Wilcox introduced and railroaded the firing of

Attorney Oldehoff under the only conditions (without cause) that would

reward Oldehoff with a golden parachute of almost $94,000.

There were many available alternatives to handle this matter

economically.

This week, the flawed process was compounded in the appointment of

Oldehoff’s assistant, Krista Story, to replace him on an interim basis

while searching for a replacement. Instead of authorizing a percentage premium pay increase for

Story while on this temporary assignment, the commission raised her salary $35,000

to match Oldehoff’s $110,000 in a move totally unsupported by good

business practice. Such an increase would not be warranted even if Story had the knowledge,

skill, responsibility, experience and tenure of Oldehoff, which she

does not.

Meanwhile, who among the commissioners can be counted on to protect

taxpayers’ interests? We certainly expect that the new board will not

display this cavalier attitude towards taxpayer money.