CLEARWATER – County officials are facing difficult decisions.
Valuable programs and services must be cut and hundreds of jobs eliminated. Officials say there is no alternative other than dipping into reserves or increasing the millage rates – something most seem reluctant to do.
Latest figures show that the county is facing a budget shortfall of at least $57.7 million due to the impact of Amendment 1, a historical change in taxable property values and other losses in revenue, John Woodruff, county budget director, said during a budget recap meeting on June 12.
Forty-five percent of the budget cuts, $25 million, are coming from departments controlled by the board of county commissioners. The remaining $30 million must be cut from budgets maintained by the constitutional officers and independents.
Of the constitutional officers, the Sheriff’s Office has the biggest budget of more than $260 million. Consequently, the biggest cuts – about $25 million - have to come from countywide law enforcement services.
About 40 speakers asked county commissioners on June 12 to do something to restore programs Sheriff Jim Coats has marked for reductions or elimination in his proposed budget.
Municipal police departments are concerned about cuts that would end countywide programs such as sexual predator tracking, juvenile assessment, centralized DUI breath testing and others.
Several speakers told commissioners their stories about participating in inmate rehabilitation programs. They described the programs as life saving and said they had helped them rebuild their lives without repeatedly returning to jail as they had before.
Several residents – crime victims – spoke against Coats’ proposal to cut two victim’s advocate positions.
Overall, the sheriff proposes to cut as many as 175 jobs and eliminate or reduce several programs.
Coats presented a plan to the commissioners on June 17 that would restore at least a portion of some of the programs and some of the jobs. Problem is he needs another $2.7 million.
Commission Chairman Robert Stewart called Coats’ presentation disheartening. He said while there was no doubt that all the services were very valuable and important to the community, it was the sheriff’s job as chief law enforcement officer to find a way to pay for public safety programs.
Commissioner Susan Latvala said she understood the difficulty of the decisions and pointed out that the board of county commissioners had slashed the health and human services budget to balance its budget.
“The poorest of the poor are going to be hurt,” she said.
The commissioners also are struggling with a last minute request for $980,000 to fund a second phase of Pinellas Hope, which seems to be a viable solution to assist the county’s homeless population.
Results from a University of Florida study on the effectiveness of the pilot phase of Pinellas Hope are due to be released in mid-July.
On June 12, the commissioners debated the idea of using reserves to help alleviate some of the budget heartburn; but by June 17 that plan seemed to have lost its appeal.
There was some talk of increasing the mileage rate – something Sheriff Coats said he would support.
Coats said he was concerned that eliminating law enforcement programs and personnel would have a long-term impact in the county in the coming months.
State Rep. Darryl Ervin Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, spoke in support of funding the sheriff’s programs. He said he understood the difficulty local governments were having due to the passage of tax reform legislation.
He also said he understood the importance of rehabilitation programs that would be eliminated without funding.
“I’m 10 years and three months clean from crack cocaine and alcohol,” he said. “The programs work.”
Commissioner Calvin Harris said while all the law enforcement programs were important, the question was how to give the sheriff “another bite of the apple and who do we take it from. We don’t have anymore money. We have to be realistic and prioritize.”
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