IN YOUR CORNER

The smoke had hardly cleared from almost a week of budget workshops when a government-funded TV program (MCTV) produced an interview with the County Administrator who described the budget process and results as frugal and lean.  Our organization questions whether or not we were looking at the same data as he.

Does it seem to you that our county of 130,000 citizens has too little, too much, or just the right amount of government?  As Fox News has said,  "We'll report, you decide."

Overall, the 03-04 Budget of $391 million exceeds the prior year's budget by $17 million, or almost 4½%.  This is over and above the new money created by higher appraised real estate values, which only amounted to $5.2 million.  Therefore, even a billion dollars in increased valuations could not entirely float the government boat.  What will we ever do in lean times?

During the budget workshop process, the Commissioners and some of the public got a lesson in government accounting.  Lesson One was that the 'budget' they were approving was not a real budget in the sense of the word as used in the private sector.  It was not a precisely targeted amount to be spent in the coming fiscal year.  Actual spending has varied from what was budgeted by 25% or more for the past three years.  The newly adopted budget is really an authorization to spend a certain amount in an inexact time period.  Since the variance is typically negative, this process, which is guided by government accounting standards, allows a great wad of money ($113 million this year) to be carried over from one year to the next in an account called the "Fund Balance".

Another lesson learned was a further clarification of the number of employees working for the County.  For years, that number had been compared to the population of Martin County showing a ratio of employees per thousand citizens, holding relatively steady at six employees or less per thousand.  We have discovered that our 872 full-time county employees are being supplemented by an additional 114 part-time, or "on call", employees.  While not a total surprise, this factor is of much greater significance than presumed.  This same question has yet to be pursued with the Constitutional Offices (Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, Sheriff and Supervisor of Elections) whose combined staffs consist of approximately 750 employees.

Martin County government has an employee payroll of almost $40 million.  We contribute another $6.2 million in retirement benefits (approx. 16%).  To supplement "our thinking"", we will spend $1.7 million on consultants next year.  We spend $212,000 on cell phones, which we supply to 235 employees at $50/month/phone. 

In addition to the Sheriff having an army (every deputy has a take-home vehicle), navy (six marine patrol boats), and air force (several helicopters), the County Administrator's 872 employees require a fleet of 239 vehicles.  Altogether, their combined usage of fuel amounts to $1 million and maintenance and repair costs run better than $1.25 million!  These costs are accrued even though a significant number of vehicles are under-utilized by definition of low mileage/usage.

Just to add icing on the cake, there is also a contingency fund for reserves amounting to $59 million to see us through a rainy day.

This is only a small sampling of the activity as reflected by a few accounts, but it gives one a feeling for the magnitude of local government spending and the direction it is going.

Now we ask you, does this sound lean and frugal to you?