IN YOUR CORNER

Governmental leadership is that ability to sometimes go against the

grain and question why some budget items are necessary, why the general

public should be burdened to benefit a minority, and what lower priority

tasks should be sacrificed to pay for the higher priority tasks. While

attending the last public Capital Improvements Projects (CIP) meeting

before the Board of County Commissioners, Taxpayer Association

representatives were impressed by the business-like manner and

professionalism of the new commissioners. We must remind the Commission

that, during the budget process, strong leadership is required to

balance the needs and wants of vocal citizens with those of the

taxpayers in general.

Additional taxes are always based upon supposed new and pressing needs.

By using this technique, governments run the risk of wasting millions of

tax dollars on bigger bureaucracies and overbuilt government facilities,

while existing neighborhood schools and parks are over utilized and run

down. The built-in assumption that everything the County is now doing is

vitally important, and that we have to add new tasks on top, should be

vigorously challenged. It is unfair to ask the general taxpayer to pay

more until a prioritized list of all projects and tasks in the proposed

budget is compiled, and it is determined if more taxes are justified for

doing the least important task or tasks. If the tax cannot be justified

then it obviously should not be imposed. This is how successful

corporations are managed - government entities, unfortunately, generally

are not.

***

While discussing the CIP for water and sewer, a presentation was made by

a paid consultant. The consultant presented what he described as a cost

justification analysis of the utility plan to serve the counties future

needs. This report linked facility expansion plans to a general, 13%

rate increase, which would be paid by current as well as new water/sewer

users. The consultant justified the size of the rate increase based upon

an inflation rate but no evidence was shown that this department

experienced this rate of inflation and no proof was presented that costs

for current operations justified this expansion of their facilities and,

therefore, the rate increase. No one challenged the validity of using an

inflation factor, why a deflation factor should not be used if

modernized, lower manpower facilities are used or why the rates charged

in the City of Stuart are lower. Instead, at least one commissioner

lamented the fact that the county had not increased water rates every

year over the past five years, so that the public wouldn't mind as much

being hit with one or two big increases in the next two years. Money

should not be taken out of the taxpayers’ wallet without a hard review

as to why and how it will be spent.

The issue of why a consultant was hired for the primary purpose of

justifying an increase in rates, and why staff, not the consultant, was

giving the report, was never addressed. It is our opinion that each

county department is responsible for drawing conclusions and making

presentations to the commission. They can and should identify where they

are in agreement with, and where they disagree with, a consultant’s

methods and conclusions. The consultant should be used as an aid to

accomplish their work, not as a convenient crutch. The commissioners

should enforce this discipline in all departments reporting to them.

***

Level of Service (LOS) is the criterion used by governments to determine

its staffing , equipment and other needs. This determination is what

they base their budgets on. We agree with one commissioner’s view that

the department’s management should know the evolution of its LOS , and

these LOS standards should be examined and agreed upon continuously, not

merely accepted year after year.

We should insist that our county commission identify, after analysis,

what is a reasonable Level Of Service (LOS). They then should determine

what parts of each department’s staffing, budget and CIP dollars are

required to run, repair and maintain an acceptable minimum LOS for the

current population of the county. Additionally, they should question

what parts of the staffing, budget and CIP are needed to accommodate a

unified estimate of population and business expansion in the county, and

identify the parts of the staffing, budget and CIP which would be

required to raise the level of service above this reasonable standard of

service. Lastly, we should aid and support the commission as it reviews

departmental budgets in relationship to proposed LOS standards, we

should help them assess the appropriateness of those LOS’s, and how they

compare to standards in similar communities.