I read that Sumter County will be cutting alot of public safety services for the up comming budget. Does anyone know how much and what will be cut. In order to lower the taxes they must lay off some Fireman and Police services? Any input here?

Is that a joke? With all the new homes in TV and the incredible tax base, Sumter's coffers have to be growing by leaps and bounds. This almost sounds like a political/scare question.
Think about the huge influx of dollars from the Sumter portion of TV. Our use of fire/police and other services is probably minimal in the grand scheme of things. If they are having budget cuts, I think someone should investigate how tax dollars are being expended and check for waste and/or misuse of funds.

No joke..... I read somewhere that there's a referendum up for votes in cutting RE taxes to the county. And if so, they say, of course will have to cut down our fire, police, and any and all services. And.... why not cut the very high salaries of the overpaid higher echelon? Seems like a rape job to me.

Oh yes, I do recall reading that the powers-that-be will forego a pay raise. Big deal, huh?

Disgusting state of affairs......b

Remember...."where's the beef?" Well now the question should be, "where's the money?"

Hope the POA gets involved in this and exposes the issues.

EVERY time there is discussion about cutting RE taxes, EVERY official of that town, county, or city ALWAYS says they will have to cut fire, police and schools. It is the places they know they can cause the most pain so people will say "no, don't cut taxes" and then they have more power and more money to waste.

For some reason they are never smart enough to look elsewhere. If we ran our businesses like our local governments, we would all fail. I get asked to do more with less every year at budget time. And I have to find creative ways to make that happen. Governments just raise taxes and make us pay. Time to elect new officials and get ones that know how to use a business approach to these things.

I am asked to improve productivity at a minimum of 8% every year. Take the same base you had the prior year, look at what was spent, reduce it by 8%, adjust it up or down based on growth or reduction in scope and that becomes the new budget. So the productivity improvements have to happen in order to meet objectives. And a real novel approach, I am paid on how well I do that.

Cities, towns and counties should be set up the same way.

Amen to your comments I2ridehd and Barb. They need to cut taxes. They need to put on their big girls and deal with it. A lot of fluff is added in most years so you have a cushion for next year.

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

EVERY time there is discussion about cutting RE taxes, EVERY official of that town, county, or city ALWAYS says they will have to cut fire, police and schools. It is the places they know they can cause the most pain so people will say "no, don't cut taxes" and then they have more power and more money to waste.

For some reason they are never smart enough to look elsewhere. If we ran our businesses like our local governments, we would all fail. I get asked to do more with less every year at budget time. And I have to find creative ways to make that happen. Governments just raise taxes and make us pay. Time to elect new officials and get ones that know how to use a business approach to these things.

I am asked to improve productivity at a minimum of 8% every year. Take the same base you had the prior year, look at what was spent, reduce it by 8%, adjust it up or down based on growth or reduction in scope and that becomes the new budget. So the productivity improvements have to happen in order to meet objectives. And a real novel approach, I am paid on how well I do that.

Cities, towns and counties should be set up the same way.

I hate to be the horse's ass yet again, but rumor, "I read somewhere" and "I recall reading" is no way to discuss potential cuts in county services. Per one comment, Sumter is cutting "a lot of public safety services." What is that? Are they closing the fire department or sheriff's office. Maybe the jail is going to a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM operation? Maybe they're reducing one crossing guard? Maybe the cost cutting is reducing the amount of target practice the deputies get or increasing the mileage between oil changes on cruisers? Or maybe it's buying 6 helicopters instead of 8. Facts just might impact the discussion.

What does Sumter County provide now and what would they provide as a result of any new budget structure? Then the PAO can come in and sue.

Muncle....This isn't a court action forum. Merely a chat forum wherein we are allowed to voice whatever we read or heard without documenting every word. Please chill, huh?

The POA does not always sue to prove their point. Take it easy, guy.

barb

I heard the County is asking the Sheriff's Office to cut 1.8 million from their budget which would lay off 23 Deputies and 6 office workers. The situation will be in the papers soon and we get to save $25 off our property taxes this year.

Originally Posted by barb1191

Muncle....This isn't a court action forum. Merely a chat forum wherein we are allowed to voice whatever we read or heard without documenting every word. Please chill, huh?

The POA does not always sue to prove their point. Take it easy, guy.

barb

Of course it's an open forum where everyone is allowed to voice opinions --- I guess except me. So the title of the thread is "Local Governmet cutting services." I merely asked what services are being cut. Not really unreasonable, I wouldn't think.

Later, you propose the county "cut the very high salaries of the overpaid higher echelon? Seems like a rape job to me." Who are the overpaid higher echelon, elected officials, appointed officials, or both? What are their very high salaries? I think if you are yelling rape, you'd best determine who the rapee and the raper are. Makes it a bit easier in court.

And since we're all entitled to our own opinions, I will admit that over the many years of its existence, the POA has had a few successes. But then, even a blind squirrel finds some nuts. On balance, I don't think the POA is worth the gunpowder it would take to blow them to hades. I think they're more trouble than they're worth. But anyone is more than welcome to disagree and I would encourage those who do disagree to join the POA.

Thanks Muncle........my thoughts to a tee.

When the majority of Florida voters voted yes to Amendment One, it impacted all counties on the state. In order to get a bigger break on their property taxes, they put the entire state in jeopardy.

Originally Posted by zcaveman

When the majority of Florida voters voted yes to Amendment One, it impacted all counties on the state. In order to get a bigger break on their property taxes, they put the entire state in jeopardy.

The response of the voters was due to the same seen elsewhere - taxes go up, counties have a little surplus, counties overcommit for the following year or two beyond the surplus, taxes go up again.

When the county governments fail to run the counties like the business it is, and instead spend county money to satisfy special interests, eventually the voters get tired of it. When replacing commissioners doesn't change the pattern, the voters stepped in and locked the budget.

Having the county commissioners cry "foul" because they can't just freely tap the property owners so that special interest (especially those that endorse or subsidize campaigns) groups get special treatment - what goes around, comes around.

Hey, it could be worse. I still own a house in Montgomery County, Maryland where the County Executive was elected because he promised to increase help to illegal aliens and have the county pay for "day laborer centers" so the illegals could have a place to seek work (illegally, of course). Says a lot for the voters here. Also, taxes this year are going up 13% because of the special interst subsidy game.

Florida voters got it right - place a limit on available funds and force the system to work. The alternative is what I'm also paying in MD.

Sumter County now has the lowest tax rate of any nearby county. This is a good thing however they lowered taxes knowing Amendment 1 was going to put the county in a bind and that was foolish.

Originally Posted by Muncle

Per one comment, Sumter is cutting "a lot of public safety services." What is that? Are they closing the fire department or sheriff's office. Maybe the jail is going to a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM operation? Maybe they're reducing one crossing guard?

There was a detailed email from Sumter County Sheriff Bill Farmer which was his response to County Administrator Bradley Arnold's request to show how the Sheriff's Dept would be able to cut budget for coming year as a result of voter mandated cuts. Unfortunately I did not save the email. There was however, a story in recent edition of Villages Daily Sun that summarized what what contained in the Sheriff's response. It did list a reduction in number of Deputies on on road patrol, elimination of two motorcycle traffic enforcement officers, elimination of Funeral escorts and lots of other items. They were not the Sherrif's recommendations, but merely a response to list what would have to be cut to comply with a budget reduction.

Since this is early in the budget process, none of what the Sheriff listed is cast in stone.

I didn't see the article in yesterday's Daily Sun until long after I'd pontificated. However, it really doesn't change that much. This seems to be pretty early in the budget process with one side threatening X% cuts and the other predicting armageddon if they don't get a Y% increase.

On the other hand, I don't know Bill Farmer or really that much about him, but he seems like a definite hardball player and completely rolled over the commission on the jail debate last year. He's liable to strip the sheriff's office of some critical facilities just to prove a point.

Quasi related -- I hate sunshine laws and publishing negotiations. "Open covenants openly arrived at" was a failure at Versailles and it's blatant foolishness today. As Bismarck might have said, "I have about made up my mind that laws are like sausages — the less you know about how they are made the more respect you have for them." The same is true of budgets.