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Hernando Today

Commissioners Don't Seem To Get The Message

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

The article in Hernando Today about the survey on usage of the bus in Hernando County says a lot about the county commissioners and their view of the taxpayers.

Commissioner Dave Russell seems to have read the report and drawn the logical conclusion to discontinue the bus operations. Commissioner Diane Rowden seems to have a disconnect with the taxpayers when she stated that she was "not answering to the stockholders of a big corporation who are looking at their profit margin."

I beg to disagree, Ms. Rowden. You are on the board of directors of a corporation with 160,000 stockholders. It is called Hernando County. And while she is correct to say that we, the taxpayers, are not looking at our profit margin, we are still looking at the expenditures of the corporation. It is our tax dollars (the income of Hernando County) that pays the operating loss of the bus. And it is the duty of the directors (commissioners) to utilize the corporate assets in a manner that benefits the majority of the stockholders.

The argument that less than 1 percent of the county residents needs the bus is a valid one, but government is designed for the greater good and spending a half million dollars on operating a bus that is so under utilized can only be described as a breach of duty to the taxpayers.

Commissioners Rose Rocco and Chris Kingsley seem to be trying to save THE Bus, but are undecided how to do it. Commissioner Rocco did have one promising idea - to run the bus between employment centers.

Since many of Hernando County residents work in the Tampa area, run the bus between commuter parking areas in Hernando County and stops in Tampa where riders can connect with the local transportation there. This would save commuters gas and tolls and reduce tail pipe emissions, which will make the environmentalist much happier than seeing a bus cruising around Hernando County with only a few riders.

Harry Chamberlain

Spring Hill

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