Letters To The Editor

County Needs To Cut Like Taxpayers

Well, it seems the only one who is cutting back on spending is the taxpayer, in order to pay taxes, prescriptions, gasoline and all the other daily expenses. The taxpayer has to do without a lot of necessities, but does the county and county employees? They get raises every year no matter what.

As far as managers working 50 hours a week, that must really put a heavy burden on them? At $95,000 a year, that's approximately $39.50 per hour, figuring 2,400 hours per year. That salary is almost half of what the governor of Florida gets per year - pretty nice, huh? There are many people in Hernando County who are doing without prescriptions and food just to pay their bills. Just look at all the foreclosures every day in the paper, but does that deter the county from cutting back? No!

Here is what they have done. Let's say you work 40 hours a week and you are budgeted at that. All of a sudden, you start working 80 hours per week, so you go out and finance a new car, buy a new home, of course, finance, really set your budget at 80 hours. Everything is fine until a year or so later, you're down to 40 hours a week. I don't have to tell you what happens next. Just take the county, for example, when things were good, they jumped right up to that 80-hour per week budget. But now the times are down to the 40-hour per week, but they still want that 80-hour per week pay and do not want to face the fact that they have to go with the 40-hour week.

By the way, I never hear mention of all the monies they get for the franchise fees from the cable companies! If they would reduce that, that would reduce our cable rates, that's if the county wanted to help the county residents!

One more item I have to mention - a proposal to purchase the old Register Chevrolet property for $4.5 million? It is nothing but an old service building dressed up with about one to five acres of land; but yet they gave away the hospital with, I think, 16 acres of land, asphalted with more than ample parking that could have been a moneymaker for the county and county residents, for a little over $1 million dollars.

Whoever is making these decisions can't be very swift. Undoubtedly, they never had a business to make wise decisions. For as far as I am concerned, that was a poor decision so far; and if they spend $4.5 million on the Register property, that is another bad decision.

I believe that any time big money is going to be spent, it should be put up to the people to decide, the ones who pay the bill, not just five people and how they feel.

Joseph S. Allesi

Brooksville

Garden Club Offers Thanks

The Spring Hill Garden Club held its first "Holiday in the Gardens" on Dec. 1 at the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens. This event was an overwhelming success.

Garden club members planted evergreen trees throughout the gardens, and the following sponsors decorated the trees for the holidays: Hernando County Extension Service; Kessel Tech Inc.; Rotary Club of Spring Hill Central; Jennifer and Co.; Florida FIN; Operation PRIDE; Girl Scout Troops 704, 909 and 1014; Gulf Coast Academy; M&L Accounting; Gulf Coast Surgery; Deltona Elementary School; Boys and Girls Club; New Beginnings; Kiwanis Club of Spring Hill; Spring Hill Elementary; Friendship Club; Timber Pines Garden Club; Sun Trust Bank; A-1 Pets; Red Hot Flashes of Spring Hill; Gulf Coast Conservancy; Hernando County Parks and Recreation; and the Spring Hill Garden Club.

Most of the organizations purchased the trees that they decorated, making a permanent donation to the gardens. We are deeply grateful to the members of all of these organizations for their support.

Entertainment was provided by Maria Valentine, a harpist; Lynn Brainard and Jeff Miller of Dixie Blue; and Yolanda Martinez and her Suncoast Elementary School Chorus. Thank you for donating your time and talents.

The trees will be available for viewing throughout the month of December. Visitors will be able to vote for the "Best Decorated Tree" until Dec. 24. The winner will be announced after the holidays.

The Nature Coast Botanical Gardens are located at 1489 Parker Ave. in Spring Hill. From U.S. 19, go east on Spring Hill Drive for 4/10ths of a mile and turn left onto Parker Avenue.

The gardens are located on the left, past the fire house. The gardens are open year-round from sunup to sundown. We invite the public to check out what has been called "the best kept secret in Hernando County."

For more information, call 352-683-9933 or visit our Web site at www.naturecoastbotanicalgardens.com. Thanks again to everyone who made the "Holiday in the Gardens" such a success.

Doug Brainard

President

Spring Hill Garden Club