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County to lobby for second regional veterans office

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BY CARL ORTH

SUNCOAST NEWS ASSISTANT EDITOR

Published: October 28, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - The federal government should lead the battle to provide benefits for veterans, not Pasco County, officials here say.

Commission Chairman Jack Mariano provided a draft copy of the proclamation that might be sent to President Barack Obama and members of Congress.

A second U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office is needed in Florida in order to "decrease the backlog of pending veterans claims and to expedite the benefits to those who have dedicated themselves to preserving our heritage of freedom and advancing the cause of world peace," the county proclamation reads in part.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the matter Nov. 3. The proclamation comes after debate this summer over the county budget as property tax revenue plunged during the recession.

The Pasco Veterans Council mobilized its members against a preliminary proposal to slash the Pasco Division of Veterans Affairs budget by some 60 percent - from $264,370 with six positions to $103,362 with two positions.

With some 54,000 veterans living in Pasco, the council exercised some of its clout. More than 3,700 people signed a petition protesting the deep budget cuts for the county agency.

Ultimately, when the county finalized its budget by Sept. 30, the Pasco veterans office got a reprieve after some other revenues popped up at the last minute. The agency retained five staff positions.

"The veterans services officers are excellent" in assisting with VA claims and appeals, Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator for public services, had remarked in July.

"The question comes up, though," Johnson said, why the county should fund an agency to deal primarily with a federal government agency. At the time, layoffs of hundreds of county staff members appeared inevitable.

Johnson said he had urged veterans council leaders to contact U.S. representatives and senators about fixing the VA claims process. "I think there's a problem with the (federal) system," Johnson said. In that vein, the proclamation explains how the Veterans Benefits Administration by the end of 2007 had more than 391,000 rating cases pending. More than one-fourth of those cases had been pending for 180 days or longer.

"In a 2008 report to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs," the proclamation reads, "the American Legion stated that there was a 20-30 percent error rate on processing claims (and) a combined remand and reversal rate of 56 percent by the Board of Veterans' Appeals."

In the meantime, "Florida has the second highest number of veterans in the country, and one of the highest remand and reversal rate out of all the 57 regional VA offices across the United States."

The proclamation concludes with some commentary: "freedom is not free, veterans have paid the price by leaving their families and communities behind and placing themselves in harm's way for the good of all and should be entitled to receive their benefits in an efficient and timely manner and should not be subjected to substandard services by the very nation that they fought to preserve and protect."

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