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Commissioners Struggle To Balance The Budget

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By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - With less than a week to go before final adoption of their 2007-08 spending plan, Pasco County officials still are working to balance their budget.

Requests for additional sheriff's deputies and school crossing guards are among the items keeping expenses from matching revenues. Officials also are assessing how much the county has saved with an ongoing hiring freeze and lost from state funding cuts, said Michael Nurrenbrock, the director of management and budget.

'We're still waiting for some information from the sheriff,' Nurrenbrock said. 'We're also looking at how our departments have done a good job with the hiring freeze and conservation with spending.'

Pasco leaders might have solved their budget crisis months ago if the county commission had opted for a loophole in state tax reform legislation that allows counties to levy higher tax rates if a supermajority of commissioners or the entire board agrees. The Legislature ordered counties to reduce their property tax revenue in the coming fiscal year by between 3 percent and 9 percent but gave leaders an out. Pasco was directed to cut 3 percent.

Fourteen other Florida county commissions by supermajority or unanimous vote declared their intentions to adopt a tax rate equal to or lower than the 'rolled back' rate, or the tax rate needed to collect the same amount they did this fiscal year, according to state Department of Revenue analyst David Beggs. The counties are Bradford, Calhoun, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hendry, Holmes, Jefferson, Lee, Liberty, Martin, Seminole, Union and Wakulla. A number of municipalities also have opted for higher tax rates than the state mandate. Budgets go into effect Oct. 1.

For Pasco, it is too late to raise the tax rate, Nurrenbrock said. A final budget workshop is scheduled for Monday and the final public hearing is set for Tuesday night. Truth-in-millage or TRIM notices were mailed to Pasco homeowners in August, after the board set a preliminary tax rate of $5.45 per $1,000 of property valuation. Commissioners may not adopt a tax rate higher than the rate in the TRIM notices without advertising the information in newspapers and sending amended notices to property owners, an expensive and time-consuming process, Beggs said.

The county commission never formally considered the loophole, nor has any commissioner indicated he or she would support higher taxes, although some conceded the tax cut is not providing much of a break.

'I think that the people would have been quite upset,' Commissioner Pat Mulieri said of raising the tax rate. 'They were promised less taxes. But with what we're doing now, they're not seeing much tax relief.'

The cuts commissioners have made so far have been tough, Mulieri said. Sheriff Bob White initially asked for an $11 million increase in his $83 million spending plan. The board cut that increase to about $2.7 million but pledged additional funding for deputies and crossing guards if voters reject a referendum for a 'super' homestead exemption many say would further deplete county reserves. If the exemption passes, the county will have to make more cuts.

Commissioners also are slated to consider new and higher fees for parks and other services to offset expenses.

'Everybody's going to have to share the pain,' Mulieri said. 'I think we're going to have to spread the cost around.'

Commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand said she has not been doing any Monday morning quarterbacking on tax reform.

'That was not an item that was discussed. It was never broached,' she said. 'In the spirit of cooperation with what the governor and legislature are doing, we would not have entertained that. When we started this process, we thought it would be a task but not a trial. We're forging ahead.'

Commissioners in the coming year will, however, have to say 'no' a lot more when residents come calling, she said.

'We're going to have to say, 'I'm sorry. We're not going to be able to do that.'

'

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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