Budget Focus On South Brooksville

BROOKSVILLE - County Administrator David Hamilton wanted to hear what was on people's mind regarding the budget.

He got an earful.

About 20 people were at the Lorenzo Hamilton Community Center in Kennedy Park Tuesday for the first of six community budget workshops called by Hamilton.

Foremost on people's minds was what the county planned to do to improve services to south Brooksville, an area they said has been neglected for years by the county.

Now, with threatened budget cuts, they worried they would lose parks and other essential services.

Civic activist Paul Boston started it off by asking whether the county intended to cut funding to clean up the contaminated former public works building in downtown Brooksville.

Hamilton promised that wouldn't happen.

Boston also criticized the county for spending $50,000 on a drainage improvement project along Bethune and D Streets that he believes made matters worse.

Boston said it hasn't helped that Hernando County has had a revolving door of county administrators during the last decade or so and many improvement projects never reached fruition.

Hamilton smiled and said he has no plans to leave anytime soon.

Next up was civic activist Joe Lemieux, who held up placards showing salaries of county managers, some of whom are making in the $90,000- and $100,000-range. And yet, the county is threatening to cut services for the poor, he said.

A good place to cut the budget is to cut those people's salaries by 20 percent, Lemieux said.

"This whole thing is lopsided (and) it's lopsided in favor of government, not the people," Lemieux said. "We are the ones that pay these salaries."

Lemieux urged Hamilton and the dozen or so county staffers and directors present at this first budget workshop to show compassion for the people in the county who struggle to make ends meet on $27,000 a year.

Lemieux also said racism is alive and well in south Brooksville and told Hamilton he needs to know the history of the area.

Brooksville City Councilman Frankie Burnett said county government is doing better in providing needed services for the south side. But it still needs improvement.

"We should be putting more money into this area," Burnett said.

Hamilton, who moderated Tuesday night's workshop, said he plans to take all concerns to heart and even scheduled a follow-up meeting for June to address specifically the concerns of south Brooksville.

"We can't promise to fix all this overnight," Hamilton said.

But even with less money, he said he believes the county can make a start in making sure parks are preserved in Brooksville and any lingering issues of neglect in the region are addressed. Others at the informal workshop had concerns of a countywide nature.

Mary Reid of Brooksville said one budget cut should be THE Bus, the county's public transportation system.

"I've never seen more than two people get on it," she said. "It would be cheaper to buy (them) a cab ticket."

Reid also said the county needs to address the bloated budget of the county legal department. Five attorneys for a county the size of Hernando is too many, she said.

Lois McGarvey of Brooksville told Hamilton to make better use of fire department vehicles. McGarvey said it is a waste of money for the trucks to roll out on ambulance calls.

On a related matter, Pat Miketinac of Brooksville said the county needs to stop replacing its fleet of vehicles so soon and drive them longer - a measure the county has already acted upon.

"If we're talking about saving money, why buy new (vehicles)?" Miketinac asked. "I never have."

Hamilton then launched into a slide show presentation, highlighting several budget bullet points for attendees Tuesday night. It was essentially the same presentation he gave earlier during the county commission meeting.

He and Budget Director George Zoettlein have said that the county will be facing huge revenue reductions, thanks to the passage in February of Amendment 1 and state-mandated tax cuts. Even accounting for cuts already proposed, the county will need to slice about $2.6 million from the 2008-09 budget, according to the budget office, Zoettlein said.

Hamilton said with less tax revenue coming in there will need to be tradeoffs: Possibly cutting services in exchange for lower taxes.

He said the total tax reduction in the general fund for fiscal year 2008 is a projected $4.9 million.

The county is forecasting a $15.9 million gap between revenues and expenses for the fiscal year 2009 general fund budget and a loss of ad valorem revenue of $6.1 million.

During the meeting, citizens were asked to fill out a survey asking which county government services should be considered priorities and how expenditures could be reduced.

"As Hernando County government considers how to reduce spending, very tough decisions have to be made," the survey says.

Attendees ranked the services of county government and the results will be tabulated. They were also asked how many times they contacted county officials the past year and the responsiveness of those officials.

When all six workshops have been held, a summary of the combined rankings will be released.

The feedback received at this and future workshops will be shared with county commissioners during upcoming budget sessions as they prepare for the July 15 budget submittal date.

The next workshop will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at the Withlacoochee Bicentennial Hall, 16257 Lingle Road in Istachatta.

The format of each meeting is expected to be the same. Hamilton will provide a budget overview, residents can ask questions and will fill out a survey.

For more information about upcoming workshops, call the Community Relations Office at 352-540-6780.

More Budget Workshops Coming

Here is a list of the remaining community budget workshops:

Thursday, May 8

2 p.m.

Withlacoochee Bicentennial Hall

16257 Lingle Road

Istachatta

Thursday, May 15

2 p.m.

Ridge Manor Community Center

34240 Cortez Blvd.