Taxpayers Have Their Say

Facing the prospect of major budget cuts next year, Pasco County officials took the hard questions directly to the taxpayers Monday night in the first of a series of public meetings aimed at setting priorities for the county's future.

The next meeting is set for 7 p.m. today at the New Port Richey campus of Pasco-Hernando Community College. That meeting is aimed at developers working in Pasco.

Future meetings with taxpayers are scheduled for April 13 at PHCC in New Port Richey and April 15 at Sunlake High School in Land O' Lakes. The county's elected officials will answer the same questions May 4 at PHCC in New Port Richey.

At Monday's meeting, consultant Craig Rapp walked about 40 people through a two-hour survey of county services and spending.

Falling property values have blown a $30 million hole in the county's next budget, which kicks in Oct. 1. On top of that, the county is in the midst of an unprecedented overhaul of development rules, long-range planning and its internal organization.

The county has a lot on its plate. Getting taxpayers involved in the decision-making process is a way to ensure the changes on the horizon meet the needs of local residents, said Michele Baker, County Administrator John Gallagher's chief assistant.

Monday's audience included many lifelong Pasco residents such Sharon Thomas, a teacher at Centennial Elementary School, who has roots in Lacoochee.

Thomas said she welcomed the chance to speak directly to county leaders about Pasco's future.

"This is where my family lives and where they're going to raise their families," Thomas said. "Anything you can feed into that to help better it is important. I hope they took it serious."

Five years ago, the county re-imagined its future with an eye toward how it would handle continued growth. With the economy on the skids, the issues have shifted.

"In a downtime, your vision has to focus on what you're going to shrink," Baker said.

Rapp spelled it out Monday for residents: "There's a limited number of things they can do," he said of county officials. "What are the greatest challenges?"

Here's what east Pasco residents had to say:

•By a large margin, residents said the county's biggest challenges include excessive growth, traffic and a lack of jobs.

•They put law enforcement, fire protection and emergency medical services at the top of the list of vital county services. After that came parks and recreation, libraries and code enforcement.

•More than a third of residents at the meeting said they'd accept as much as a 5-cent increase in the local-option gas tax to pay for road improvements. But about two-thirds also said they want developers to pay for road improvements through impact fees.

•Residents showed strong support for a bin-based recycling program that would include paper, which the current system ignores, and said they were willing to pay as much as $3 extra a month to get that service.

Baker said the survey will help county officials understand what taxpayers are willing to pay for and what they can live without.

"We have to start with the fact that our taxpayers are our customers," Baker said. "We need their input on how they want the county to be run."