The most daunting challenge facing your Taxpayers’ Association in meeting our stated objectives is obtaining complete, relevant and accurate data. In the many years this Association has been reporting on Martin County’s publicly funded organizations’ priorities and spending, the efforts by some to hide, obfuscate and confuse have become legendary. In fact, when an organization provides complete and well-documented information when requested, it is a matter worthy of a compliment. That has been the recent history in our dealings with the Martin County Administration.
They advertise their agenda early to provide notice of their intent to discuss an issue. They broadcast their Commission meetings live on Comcast channel 20 along with conveniently scheduled replays. Recently they have implemented on-demand coverage of exact agenda items on-line for exceptional convenience in covering specific points of interest. A few weeks ago we requested the history of Impact Fee receipts and expenditures by the County. Within a reasonable period we were presented a complete accounting for the last seven years. When we were developing a recent article on budgets, revenues and spending we were given complete access to the last ten years of audited data along with tutoring on the system by the County Finance Department. The Administrator and his assistants are to be complimented on their obvious effort to build a level of trust with organizations such as ours.
The Sheriff, Clerk and Property Appraiser also go out of their way every year to present their budgets, priorities, and answer our many questions on their organization. We may not necessarily agree on all priorities and spending, but we do admire and recognize openness and honesty in the process and debate.
There are, however, areas where we continue to have problems gathering data. The most difficult organization for us to track and report on is the School Board. The system used to finance schools is complicated, bureaucratic and filled with laws and rules from outside the County’s control. Spending is also hard to follow for all of the same reasons. True or not, the perception is that the complicated nature serves as a convenient way to avoid scrutiny and debate over their $300+ million budget.
Even discussing the processes required to justify, fund, authorize, specify, contract, construct and populate schools can provoke enough frustration to give one a headache. The best explanation we have seen is on an Okaloosa County web site: www.okaloosaschools.com/OkaloosaSchools/SchoolDistrict/tabid/56/Default.aspx, under Taxpayer Resources. Suffice to say many are processes that could not be tolerated in a for-profit operation. While the “profit” in our schools is the well-educated graduates and not quantified in dollars, efficiency must also be considered a very desirable attribute when spending taxpayer funds.
Many of our frustrations with the School Board could be solved with coverage of their meetings like those afforded the County Commission or other Florida School Boards. It is extremely difficult for our volunteers to attend their meetings due to the inconvenient evening scheduling and conflicting commitments. For example, a recent meeting nominally advertised as a 6:00 PM Impact Fee workshop, overlapped with an important Commission meeting and then morphed into a Board meeting that approved the draft fees buried as item 14 on page 3 of the agenda. Reading the minutes after the fact is a legal answer, but it is untimely, tedious and rivals a prescription sleep aid in effectiveness.
The County Commission has offered the School Board use of their chambers and full coverage by channel 20 at what we are told is a reasonable cost. Accepting that offer, or otherwise providing video coverage as in other counties, would certainly make our efforts on your behalf a lot easier. Perhaps combining the effort with on-going class room instruction in television production and/or information technology,programs currently being offered in the public schools, would yield an excellent real world laboratory at little or no additional cost.