Last week your Taxpayers’ Association’s Board of Directors was treated to something we have been seeking for many years: a plan that could achieve enough cost reductions within Martin County government to allow a rollback of your Ad Valorem (property) Taxes. This particular plan is even more noteworthy in that it is not being proposed by an outside agency, but was developed and distributed from within the Martin County Commission itself. The “ Ten Point Plan to Ad Valorem Rollback” actually contained some 12 plus written points and was obviously an early effort to foster support from groups such as ours, ahead of the 2008 budget cycle. We were extremely pleased to note that a number of the points made were in line with those we have offered in the past. These included:

• “Trimming consultant services by at least 10%” (We would make that a much higher percentage)
• “Maximize service fees (licenses, inspections, renewals, etc.” We would do so to more nearly reflect their actual costs.
• “Maximize (the use of) Impact Fees (for) Ad Valorem Projects”
• “Examine (to see if mandated) Levels of Service thresholds are too high”
• “Defer non level-of-service (required) capital projects”
• “Trim non level-of-service (required) Programs”

Other “points” offered were, in our estimation, of relatively minor significance, single year savings or transfers of the cost from one taxpayer-funded pot of money to another. These included:

• “Maximize Fire/Rescue Inter-Local Agreements with Jupiter Island & Sewell’s Point”
• “Shift Council-on-Aging funding back from Ad Valorem to Gas Tax”
• “Reduce General Fund reserves from 10% of Total Fund to 10% of Operating (Fund)”
• “Evaluate if any (of 6) Special Taxing District Millages should be reduced”
• “Evaluate if any (of 7) Redevelopment TIF Areas should be reduced”
• “1 Year salary cap on non-union salaries over $85,000”

Following presentation of the plan our Board offered a number of suggestions for consideration as “points” in a final version. Since personnel costs are, by far, the largest controllable expenditures, we recommended the Commission focus their attention in that area.

• A moratorium on new hires and written justification required for replacing retiring or departing personnel with the intent to achieve significant personnel reductions without layoffs.
• A thorough review of all consultants and part time employees with the intent to significantly reduce both.
• Hire outside professional individuals/firms to conduct all union contract negotiations.
• A thorough review of the maintenance consequences of all capital improvement projects with the intent of minimizing them as much as practical.

We applaud this effort as an opportunity for real and needed change, but also recognize the limitations and challenges of carrying it out. First, the County Commission only controls about ¼ of the tax money spent in our behalf. The Sheriff, along with other constitutional officers, account for the other ¼ that is within the County Administration’s budget but, for the most part, is outside of their control. The Schools and other municipal taxing authorities spend the other half of your ad valorem taxes.

Also, for the first time in many years there is a perceptible reduction in the taxable value of both new and existing property within Martin County. All indications are that the decrease will continue and may even accelerate next year. Coupled with that are numerous spending increases that are inevitable due to the effects of union contracts, energy cost increases, existing personnel practices and scheduled capital improvements. In other words, the current and projected situation indicates that if spending remains in line with inflation, or even flat, it will not only preclude a rollback, but could even require an increase in the Ad Valorem millage rate.

This would be a very unsavory political position for the three Commissioners up for reelection in 2008, but that should enhance the chances of taxpayers actually achieving significant spending reductions. To make that happen those Commissioners have to know that the public will support and reward their efforts. We solicit your support through e-mails and correspondence to our addresses listed below. We also request that any of you with additional suggestions that could help achieve a more efficient County Government send them along. We always appreciate your thoughts or constructive criticism, and will gladly pass them along to your elected representatives.