Cutting positions to make ends meet
By Kyle LoJacono
The proposed Pasco County budget would trim 76 full-time jobs and raise property tax rates for the second straight year after it was decreasing for nearly a decade.
It would also close a library and make a lot of transactions paperless as the county works to balance its $1.023 billion checkbook.
“Based on the economy, government must get smaller,” said Pasco County Commission Chairwoman Pat Mulieri. “Government cannot be everything to everyone. We will concentrate on essential services.”
“For the past two years we have been examining the way government works,” Mulieri continued. “The board had the urban land institute study, developed a strategic plan and used the elements to put together a business plan.
Part of that plan was the county’s LEAP program, or Lean Efficient Accountable Pasco. The program looks for ways to downsize government by combining departments and increasingly utilizing technology to make government more cost efficient.
Cutting the 76 positions is a continuation of a trend that started about two years ago in Pasco. Since 2008, 271 positions have been cut, a reduction of more than 12 percent. Some of those jobs were already vacant.
“Other things we’ve done during the last two years is now more services will be paid
online, some permits can be downloaded and inspections can be checked on smart phones,” Mulieri said. “Each department was looked at and found they were replicating some services. Reorganization was done.
“Each constitutional officer was asked to cut their budget 5 percent,’ Mulieri continued. “Based on a criteria established in our strategic plan, each department had to validate their programs and depending on how it was justified there could be from 5-12 percent cuts.”
The chairwoman also said the county has been working to meet the budget while listening to what residents want from their government.
Also on the proposed chopping block is Centennial Library in Holiday. Other library hours will remain the same.
While several positions are proposed for cuts, the county’s budget is projected to be larger than the last two years in part because of federal stimulus money, according to Office of Management and Budget assistant director Mike Howard. The current budget is $950 million and it was $1.021 billion in 2008-09.
Another change for this year will be an increase in the millage rate. The tax rate will increase from $1.20 to $1.43 for every $1,000 of assessed property value, which will mostly go to fire rescue services. That increase would mean $34.50 more taxes on a home taxed at $150,000.
The need to increase the rate was mainly because property values in the county have dropped since 2007. The loss of taxable value reduced the Pasco general fund by $2.7 billion for this year.
Increasing funding to fire rescue was a factor of listening to public opinion.
“With our stakeholder meetings we found what services our residents felt were essential, which were mainly public safety — sheriff and fire rescue.”
In addition to those meetings, the annual Pasco residents survey indicated the most important thing to county residents is fire rescue, followed by law enforcement and emergency medical services. Those surveys were conducted online and by in person interviews with 1,825 people in the county.
Another place Mulieri said was a focus in stakeholder meetings was veterans services.
“There is also a large contingency of veterans (54,000) in the county, so keeping veterans services is important,” Mulieri said.
The proposed budget is recommending the elimination of one veteran service counselor. In order to keep that position, $37,320 will need to be found from somewhere else in the budget.
Howard emphasized this is only the proposed budget and nothing is set in stone. The 2010-11 fiscal budget needs to be in place by Sept. 21 and will go into effect Oct. 1. The commission will have several more workshops and public meetings before that date.
While Mulieri believes government needs to get smaller to meet its budget, she predicts good things for the county’s future.
“This said, I believe Pasco will be in good shape when the economy rebounds,” Mulieri said. “We are putting in needed infrastructure, restructuring the permitting process and working to bring in new industries and help local ones. Jobs are a top priority. Pasco is working to bring opportunities home.”
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