Final Budget Workshop Set For Spring Hill

SPRING HILL - It's Spring Hill's turn.

For the last few weeks, County Administrator David Hamilton has been holding a series of community budget workshops throughout the county to give residents an idea of how the 2009 budget is shaping up.

He's been fielding questions and comments from the audience and soliciting ideas about what services they want to keep and which should get the ax during a tight fiscal belt-tightening period.

Hamilton said the county will have to make cuts somewhere.

The sixth and final budget workshop will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, at the VFW Post 10209, at 14736 Edward R. Noll Drive in Spring Hill.

The county is anticipating a $15.9 million gap between revenues and anticipated expenses in 2009. The loss of ad valorem revenue is projected to be $6.1 million. Budget Director George Zoettlein estimates that, because of the slowdown in the economy, property values between Jan. 1, 2007, and Jan. 1, 2008, have decreased 8 percent or more.

Previous community budget workshops have been held in Brooksville, Istachatta, Ridge Manor and Hernando Beach. The average attendance is about 30 residents per workshop.

Before each event, citizens fill out a survey asking which county government services should be considered priorities and how expenditures could be reduced.

They rank the importance of these services: administrative, community services, libraries, parks and recreation, public safety, planning and development, transportation (including THE Bus) and utilities.

They are also asked how many times they contacted county officials the past year and the responsiveness of those officials.

After the conclusion of this workshop, the county will tabulate the results of all the gatherings and release a combined ranking.

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.

For more information about Tuesday's budget workshop, call the Hernando County Community Relations Office at 540-6780.