IN YOUR CORNER
Whenever one of us asks the federal, state, or local government for an
expansion of or addition of a service, it costs all of us to implement
that request. The budget of the United States government is somewhere
around $1,835 trillion. We have approximately 276 million citizens. Of
those 276 million, approximately 184 million are of working age (15 - 65
years of age). If each working age person paid a full share of the
cost, they would pay $9,973 per year in taxes.
The State of Florida's budget will be somewhere around $47,500,000,000
this next year, and, to make it easy on us all, there are about
16,000,000 currently living here. If the same working age percentages
are true, 10,720,000 would be of working age, and should pay $4,431 per
year in taxes.
Martin County's budget is $302,995,735 this year, and our population is
126,731. If sixty-seven percent were the only ones paying taxes, and
they paid it on an equal basis, they would pay $3,586 per person
annually.
This means, if everyone between the ages of 15 and 65 years of age
worked for a living and paid $18,990 in taxes each year, we could all
afford the current services being offered by our federal, state, and
local governments. However, if some one person in Washington, D.C., or
Tallahassee, or Martin County asked for another service to be rendered
by a government agency that would cause it to expand a service or
develop a new one, that tax of $18,990 would go up.
Of course we all know that everyone doesn't pay the same, Fox News
taxes says five percent of the people in this county pay fifty percent
of the government taxes, but our current government does cost us over
$18,000.00 for every working age person.
**
Kudos to the City of Stuart who is considering the purchase of the First
Union Bank Building for a price that is a whole lot less than what it
would cost per square foot to build. They intend to hold it for the
future. Perhaps a future site for City Hall and/or other departments.
They are considering doing this with no money down and a positive cash
flow. This is a good deal. We hope they will stick to their price
targets, as governmental bodies usually end up paying more for real
estate than they should. The City of Stuart should be proud of its
commissioners for such reasonable, forward thinking.
**
In our last column we dealt with our preliminary investigation of the
Community Coach. We tried to clearly state our position in our
original article, but we got responses form people who missed the point.
Some felt that we had committed a gross violation against mankind. On
the other hand, we also heard from those of you who have a complaint or
two to make about the quality of service the Community Coach has offered
the citizens of Martin County.
First of all, our intention is always to point out any inefficiency of
service or budgeting that will enhance the living situation of every
taxpayer in our little county. We do not intend to attack any
organization with the purpose of obliterating it, but merely desire to
see its operations become more efficient and, therefore, its quality of
service more cost effective.
One respondent had some complaints about scheduling. Stating that
ridership would certainly increase if the people who requested the
service could depend upon the arrival of the promised transportation.
Even when the proper protocol is used of calling days in advance to
schedule a trip, they stated there have still been occasions when the
vehicle didn't show.
On the other hand, it was pointed out to us that there are 53,773
residents of Martin County who are considered to be "transportation
disadvantaged" and have played an active role in the development and
improvement of the Community Coach system. This means that Martin County
with a total population of 126,731 has over 42% of it's population in
this category. We have been told that the Coach makes 105,000 trips per
year. All these trips with 27 busses, carrying an average of 1.2
passengers per bus, as stated in a recent survey. If the service need is
this great then something is wrong with the delivery.
We understand that many resident depend on public transportation, but
driving empty busses serves no one, and this inefficiency needs to be
addressed. We also emphasized that this is a state and national problem
were 75% of the often mandated funding comes.
**
Recent estimates indicated that the State of Florida could experience a
$1.3 billion revenue shortfall due to the economic slowdown coupled with
the loss in tourism dollars. It appears that education will see the
deepest cuts. The Martin County School District is already experiencing
budget difficulties due to shoddy financial record keeping practices and
possible criminal activities within their maintenance department. Now
the district is considering rezoning school boundaries when the new high
school in Jensen Beach is scheduled to open in the fall of 2004. The
school board should rectify the lopsided student population immediately
it is over due. These measures could save the district in building and
maintenance costs, as well as reduce transportation expenses by
redistricting students to schools closer to their homes. The school
board believes consultants should determine these new boundaries. Maybe
the school board could use the existing district maps, student counts
from the transportation department, new housing starts and projected
building permits to draw the new districts. Saving the cost of Expensive
consultants in these uncertain financial times !
While the school board is deciding the new boundaries, they could also
devise a procedure for reviewing the student population in schools
annually to avoid overcrowding in one school, while the population in
other schools decline. This is the situation at Hidden Oaks Middle
School in Palm City. When the school opened nine years ago, very large
district lines were drawn in order to fill the new school. The growth
and student population have increased dramatically in Palm City, but no
action has been taken to redistribute the student population more
evenly. The two middle schools in Stuart are 200 students under capacity
while the student population at the Hidden Oaks is 100 more than its
capacity. Ten portable classrooms have been added to accommodate this
overcrowding. Each portable costs money and the state legislature
mandated all school districts throughout the state to dismantle their
portable classrooms. Yet the school board has spent dollars rather than
risk the political fallout from angry parents when students are a school
they didn't want.