Community weighs in on top 2010 government priorities

Creating a balanced budget and attracting more diversified jobs should be the two main priorities facing county commissioners in 2010, said Hernando County Airport Director Don Silvernell.

Silvernell was one of several community leaders who voiced opinions on goal-setting. Others cited the expansion of economic incentives to lure industry, a greater emphasis on job training in area high schools and even the beautification of the Interstate 75-State Road 50 intersection.

"The county needs to bring in good, clean manufacturing jobs, (and) we need to diversify the workforce," Silvernell said.

Getting the budget under control is imperative in light of a projected decrease in general fund revenues next year, Silvernell said.

"The county has to live within its means," he said.

Silvernell said he recently did his part to assist struggling manufacturers by postponing, for a second consecutive year, increasing the leases of the 140-plus tenants at the Hernando County Airport complex.

Civic activist Janey Baldwin is thinking "green" for 2010 and believes the county has to take seriously its commitment to maintain the landscaping along two medians at the SR 50-Interstate 75 entrance into Hernando County.

Called, "The Gateway Project," that entrance has been maintained for the past 10 years by the Florida Department of Transportation.

But that agreement has expired, leaving Hernando County looking for some other source to cut the grass and weeds and plant flowers at the entrance.

Baldwin said it's vital the county keep alive the Gateway project because it is often the first thing visitors see when entering Hernando County.

"It lets people know who come here that we think something of our county," Baldwin said. "It will entice people to come in here and do business and live here."

County commissioners recently delayed voting whether to spend some $14,000 on the maintenance of the entrance (and other areas throughout the county) or just cover up the flower beds with grass.

Dudley Hampton, immediate past president of the Hernando Builders Association, said the obvious priority is the budget.

"I have a great deal of empathy for the commissioners because this budget has grown over time in this decade and when you look at our current board, they weren't there in the beginning of this," Hampton said.

"But they, along with our county administrator who wasn't there in the beginning of this spending spree, have to try to reconcile the needs of the county and the population as opposed to the wants. That's going to be very difficult and they're going to have to make some hard decisions."

HCAR President Marilyn Pearson-Adams believes the county must expand business incentives in 2010 to attract more industry and remain competitive with other areas of the country.

She also believes the teaching of job skills in local high schools should be a top priority.

"Job stability creates housing stability, which creates community stability, which creates revenue for our county so that we can balance our budget," Pearson-Adams said.

Randy Woodruff, chairman of the board of directors of the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce, said the county needs to see a concerted effort - possibly though economic incentives - to draw more manufacturers to the airport industrial park.

Because they sell to vendors worldwide, those industries represent new money coming into the county and offer a change from the traditional service-type jobs that typify Hernando County, he said.

Last week, Hernando Today asked all five commissioners what they believe the top issues for 2010 to be. Not surprisingly, the answers focused on job creation, the budget and developing a business plan for continued streamlining of the organization.

On Jan. 8, county commissioners will hold a strategic planning workshop to decide the top priorities facing Hernando County in 2010.

The public is invited to that workshop, which will be held at 9 a.m. at the Hernando County Emergency Operations Center, off the State Road 50 truck route by the sheriff's office.