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Suncoast Pasco News

No Easy Out

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: September 4, 2007

The Pasco County Commission is scheduled to meet Sept. 5 with Sheriff Bob White. As of last Thursday, the two sides were close to a deal over the proposed Sheriff's Office budget for the 2008 fiscal year. In mid-June, White submitted a proposed budget in which he was seeking $94.7 million for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. That would be $11.2 million more than the law enforcement agency had to spend during the current budget year.

The Florida Legislature, however, ordered county and city governments to roll back property tax rates. That pretty much doomed whatever chances White had of getting anywhere near the extra $11.2 million.

As of last Thursday, it looked as if the Sheriff's Office will get from $2.5 million to $3.7 million more for fiscal 2008. He probably is going to have to take the deal, but White says this is nowhere near the money he needs to keep the Sheriff's Office in line with the demand for its services from a growing Pasco population.

We're going to hear a lot of complaints of this sort in coming days. The Legislature is about to go into special session. They have to cut state spending because the slowdown in the Florida's housing industry has reduced the flow of revenue into state coffers.

That means until the Florida economy revs up again – one recent estimate says that could take three years – state government and the local governments and private organizations that get money from it are going to have to do the sort of belt tightening White now faces. Not everyone, however, has gotten that message. The folks who run the state university system want to raise tuition to offset the drop in state tax revenue.

During the post-9/11 economic crunch, Florida held the line on taxes and spending. If we do that again, maybe we can get things going again in under three years.

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