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County Targets HTV 'Fluff'

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By MIKE SALINERO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 29, 2008

TAMPA - The scene is eerily familiar: a blond woman in the shower, a shadowy image approaching, the maniacal shrieking as the shower curtain rips open. Then the scream.

"Honey, it's just me," says a big lug of a husband, holding a pipe wrench. "I came to change the shower head."

Hillsborough County's Communications Department produced this public service announcement to promote the use of low-flow shower heads. Produced in stark black and white like Hitchcock's original, the video recently won "Best of Show" at the most-recent convention of the National Association of County Communications Officers.

Clever? Creative? Absolutely. But is it something taxpayers should be paying for?

Critics in and out of county government say no. With Hillsborough facing an $87 million budget shortfall, the county's $4 million-a-year Communications Department is looking more and more like an extravagant luxury.

"I believe we have at least $1 million in bloated spending in the Communications Department that could be much better used in this community," said Denise Layne, an environmental lobbyist and candidate for county commission.

Commissioner Jim Norman agrees. Norman recently told County Administrator Pat Bean to cut $1 million from the department's television station, HTV.

"We need to cut out the fluff - all that rah rah stuff," Norman said, referring to locally produced programming that critics say is used to boost county government's image.

It's unlikely the commission will eliminate the station, which each year airs live and taped coverage of 118 county commission meetings and 141 meetings of other boards and agencies. But commissioners were clear they want the station to concentrate on public information, not promotion.

"When someone calls for services, you respond," said Commissioner Mark Sharpe. "That's the way we promote ourselves, not with glitzy, sometimes cheesy, government spots."

Budget Grew Over Years

Lori Hudson supervises the communications office from a 16th-floor office in the copper-colored County Center. Her wall and bookshelf are covered with awards won here and at her previous job as communications director for Pinellas County. Her window opens on an expansive view of Harbour Island, Davis Islands and beyond to Tampa Bay.

Until this year, life has been good for Hudson. She makes about $106,000 as a department director and supervises 42 employees. Since she got the job in 2005, her department's budget has grown about 5 percent to 6 percent a year to $4.19 million.

Things changed last year when property taxes were cut, first by the Legislature, then by voters. The county faces an $87 million budget deficit and county department directors are forced to choose between what Hudson calls "want to haves" and "have to haves."

Commissioners, faced with uncomfortable cuts in services for children and the elderly, see the communications department as a fat target in need of Slim Fast.

Bean, the county administrator, had proposed cutting the department's budget by 5.4 percent to $3.96 million. Most of the savings were to come from eliminating three full-time employees.

Norman, however, raised the ante with his request for an additional $1 million in cuts. With HTV accounting for two-thirds of the communications budget, an obvious target is the $663,149 spent on public service announcements that have drawn fire from commissioners.

Usually running from 30 to 60 seconds, the videos do such things as inform parents about an Internet safety program available on public library computers or teach residents how to use the new optical scan voting machines. The county recently completed a two-part video describing the county's efforts to bring biotech industries here.

"You have to write them, you have to go out and shoot the videos and do the interviews," Hudson said. "Then you have to come back and edit them. They are labor intensive."

An accurate assessment of how many people watch county television is impossible because the Nielsen ratings service doesn't measure viewing in one county, Hudson said. She said an independent survey performed for the county about five years ago showed 60 percent of respondents had watched county television at some point.

"We hear from people who want to see programming or want to know when we're going to rerun a board meeting," Hudson said.

Commissioners have also suggested Hudson's office discontinue town hall meetings across the county. A previous commission started the meetings to bring government closer to the people, but recent meetings have been sparsely attended.

"If we take out the town hall meetings and the public information productions ... we're almost there," Hudson said, referring to the $1 million in cuts Norman requested. "We have to do a little more trimming."

'Make It Happen' Department

A county government with a $3.87 billion budget always has something going on, and it's up to the communications department to let people know about it. Whether it's a low-cost spay and neutering day at the animal shelter, or a water service interruption in Brandon, Hudson's department tries to get the word out on HTV and through news releases to local media.

The department also provides support for county boards such as the land use appeal board or the code enforcement board. Five people work writing the boards' agendas, sending out public notices, and filing fines and liens.

When a hurricane approaches, Hillsborough's emergency center is activated, and Hudson becomes the county's official voice during the crisis. She does live feeds on HTV and continuous Web updates on available shelters, closed roads and other vital information.

And then there are the special events such as building openings where commissioners can press the flesh and take credit for bringing home some pork.

In recent weeks, the Communications Department planned and staffed a pavilion dedication at a children's services center at Lake Magdalene, a ceremony for an affordable housing development in Tampa called The Oaks at Riverview, and a fire station dedication. Last week, the Florida Department of Transportation asked the department to plan a ceremony marking the widening of U.S. 301 from Gibsonton Drive to State Road 674.

"Sometimes we're the department that gets it when they don't really know where something goes," Hudson said. "We're sort of known as the 'make it happen' department."

Hillsborough's communications budget is higher than some large Florida counties, but well below Miami-Dade, which spent $20.2 million this year. Miami-Dade performs the same communications functions as Hillsborough but also runs a 311 call center where residents can lodge requests to get a stray animal picked up or a pothole filled.

Pinellas County, with 37 communications employees, is reducing its $3.44 million budget to $2.72 million for fiscal 2009 and cutting six positions. Orange County's department, with 30 employees, plans to cut its $3.4 million budget to $3 million next year.

The looming 30 percent cut in Hillsborough's communications budget will not satisfy all the department's critics. Marilyn Smith, a regular speaker at County Commission meetings, said Hudson needs to fire some "spin doctors" whose main duties are burnishing Bean's reputation.

Hudson declined to answer Smith's charges, saying only that she doesn't "deal in personalities."

"If you look at our news releases, our brochures, the printed material we put out, it's all about various programs and services," she said. "We talk about things people can benefit from."

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com

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