We Need More Honesty, Not Fear Tactics at County Center

As we posted here, the taxpayers got a Victory recently as the Hillsborough County commissioners finally took action to approve using our existing growing budget to fund our roads and transportation needs.

This action will be implemented through a Board policy, not an ordinance that would have greater teeth. Therefore, this will only be a Victory if the county commissioners ensure and force county staff to strictly follow the Board policy each year.

We have concerns, though, because at the August 10 Transportation Workshop, County Administrator Mike Merrill clearly showed his annoyance at some commissioners who were  justifiably questioning and challenging him. Merrill used fear tactics to paint a doom and gloom picture distorting the reality of our budget and our existing growing revenues. 

Merrill even left out 20% of the county revenues in his budget impact presentation. While his math (or lack thereof) was questionable, the intentions were clear. How dare the county prioritize its budget to fund transportation first. 

(In other words - We need our growing revenues to grow the county bureaucracy, pay for a new baseball stadium, more parks, more pork projects and more hand outs to special interests.)

What the county bureaucrats presented at the August 10th workshop had holes in it, included half-truths and some outright distortions. Their tactics used in an attempt to obstruct the county from prioritizing its budget was appalling. These tactics need to stop now. Trust is an issue with County Center and trust must be earned back. We must have honesty down at County Center. 

Jim Davison, a doctor who lives in New Tampa who has been involved with the transportation issue for many years made a public comment at the August 17 BOCC meeting. Davison has spent his own time scrutinizing the county budget. His comment is below and can also be found at 54:34 in the August 17 BOCC meeting video on HTV.

GOOD DAY, COMMISSIONERS, I’M HERE TO MAKE A FEW COMMENT REGARDING THE WORKSHOP LAST WEEK AND CONGRATULATE YOU ON INCHING FORWARD. 

THE ADMINISTRATION HAD SOME STARTLING FIGURES AND ASSUMPTIONS THAT I CAN'T ALL ADDRESS IN THREE MINUTES. BUT I WOULD APPLAUD THE ADMINISTRATION FOR INCLUDING A 3.5% GROWTH FACTOR IN THE SALES TAX IN THEIR MODELING. 

IF THAT NUMBER HAD BEEN APPLIED TO THE SALES TAX AND THE TRANSPORTATION REFERENDUM YOU WERE CONSIDERING, THE REVENUE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN $3.5 BILLION OVER 30 YEARS THEY WOULD'VE BEEN $5.9 BILLION, A SMALL MISTAKE. 

THE INFLATION RATE THAT WE USED IN THE MODELING IS NOT USED BY MOST EXPENDITURE LIMITATIONS LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES. THE INFLATION RATE THAT IS USED IS THE CPIU, THE REGIONAL CPIU WITH THE TAMPA ST. PETERSBURG INFLATION RATE FOR ALL URBAN CONSUMERS. AND IT'S DONE THAT WAY FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. 

I DON'T HAVE TIME TO ADDRESS THE MODELING BUT TO ASSUME THE FIRE AND THE SHERIFF GROWTH WOULD BE UNLIMITED OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS IS LUDICROUS. DURING THE RECESSION, THE METRICS FOR THE SHERIFF CHANGED AND THEY WERE LOWERED. THEIR BUDGETS DID NOT INCREASE. CRIME WENT DOWN.AUTO ACCIDENTS WENT DOWN SO THE ENTIRE METRIC SYSTEM HAS TO BE CHANGED AND LOOKED AT MAKING SURE THE SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE ARE PROTECTED. 

AND THE ANTI DILUTION CLAUSE I MEAN THAT'S REALLY SEARCHING FOR A REASON NOT TO DO THIS. IT'S A MATHEMATICAL FORMULA. THERE WAS NO MATHEMATICS PRESENTED, AND I'M SURE YOU HAVE IT, AND BUT THE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW WHERE THE COUNTY IS ON THEIR BORROWING. THEY SAID THEY NEEDED REVENUES TO PAY FOR THE BORROWING. WELL, IF YOU LOWER THE BORROWING, YOU DON'T NEED AS MUCH REVENUES. IT'S JUST A SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL FORMULA AND YOU DON'T NEED CONSULTANTS TO TELL YOU THIS.

YOU CAN ACTUALLY PICK UP THE PHONE, CALL FITCH, CALL MOODY, CALL STANDARD & POOR'S AFTER YOU GET THE PLAN TOGETHER WHEN YOU HAVE TIME BECAUSE THE CONSULTANT SAID THIS WOULDN'T BECOME A PROBLEM UNTIL FURTHER OUT YEARS IN THE PROGRAM. SO THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TIME TO CONSULT FITCH AND MOODY AND SAY YOU KNOW THIS IS WHAT WE’RE DOING, THIS IS WHY WE'RE DOING IT, IS THIS GOING TO AFFECT US. 

I CAN SHOW YOU COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES WHOSE REVENUES DROPPED TO 2% WHO STILL RETAINED A TRIPLE A RATING FROM ALL THREE, AND THERE ARE COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES THAT HAVE FAR MORE RESTRICTIVE TAX AND EXPENDITURES LIMITATIONS THAT HAVE TRIPLE RATINGS SO THIS IS A HERRING, BUT THAT'S UP FOR YOU TO DECIDE. 

BUT I CAN TELL YOU PEOPLE WANT THEIR BOND RATING PROTECTED BUT THEY DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE EXPENSES AND HOW THE COUNTY WAS GROWING BEFORE THE RECESSION. WHEN THE COUNTY WAS HIRING ONE OUT OF EVERY 100 PEOPLE THAT WAS MOVING TO THIS COUNTY. WHEN WE WERE THE SECOND LEADING EMPLOYER IN THE COUNTY. WE DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT. SO PLEASE GO BACK. GOOD LUCK TO THE ADMINISTRATION.

According to the County's latest Comprehensive Financial Annual Report for FY2015 (CAFR), Hillsborough County is the fourth largest employer in the County (behind Hillsborough County Schools, MacDill and USF). The CAFR states the County was the second largest employer behind the Schools in 2006 when the economy was humming.

The county became bloated when revenues were furiously flying in and no one was watching the hen house. The county had absolutely no incentive to be efficient as they could easily move money around and hire as many people as they wanted. 

As our revenues are going up and up and up, we cannot afford to grow local government and the bureaucracy again - while continuing to neglect our roads and transportation. 

We need a fiscally responsible local government not a bloated one. 

The way to stop another bloated bureaucracy is to prioritize our budget, reign in our spending and have the fiscal discipline to fund our roads and transportation first.

The commissioners must get this transportation funding Board Policy done on September 8.

Because taxpayers demand no less.