HNS WEEKEND---FEBRUARY 20-21, 2010
HERNANDO NEWS SOURCE COMMENTARY:
WHEN TALKING TAX IS NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT---County Administrator needs looser reins; commissioners need to remember they are just the public's representatives, not their superiors; and news media needs to re-think its definition of "news".
As we prepare to mark the second anniversary of David Hamilton's arrival at the Hernando County Government Center, we should also consider a phenomenon that helped shorten the term of some of his predecessors. Hamilton, who is now approaching a longevity record for 21st century county administrators in Hernando County, committed a cardinal sin recently, at least according to several county commissioners quoted in local news media.
In 1999, a commitment to fund residential road maintenance from general fund revenues helped win passage of a gas tax increase, which requires a super-majority of four votes on the five-member County Board. Similarly, Hamilton suggested in response to the editorial board's question that any gas tax increase could be earmarked for County Line Road improvements. Between the FDOT time-lines and Pasco County's unwillingness to live up to a prior financial commitment, that project now appears to be without a source of funding. Hamilton went even further a few days later and said any gas tax increase ought to be a matter of the will of the voters in a referendum.
So far, our reaction is simply that the administrator was answering a fair question with an appropriate and honest response. But that reaction was not shared by county commissioners.
First of all, there are Sunshine Law issues with that approach. Though the court cases are few and far between, the Attorney General has said an appointed administrator is not allowed to "poll" an elected board in reaching decisions on what matters should or should not be recommended. Of course, administrators do make every effort to find out what their bosses think before they lay their jobs on the line at a public meeting, no matter what the Attorney General may have to say.
Second, we think that elected officials ought to give their appointed administrator some leeway in floating trial balloons. In the current economic and political climate, it always seemed certain any tax increase balloon would find itself deflated quickly. But the administrator has a statutory responsibility to fulfill, specifically those parts of Chapter 125, Florida Statutes, that spell out his (or her) duties. And finding ways to provide essential county services such as road-building is inherently part of that duty, just as it is under the general County Board powers for elected officials to make the final decisions.
Third, we think that the unwillingness of appointed government staff to discuss their work honestly and openly on the record, with reporters or members of the public, is simply not good for transparency in government. The fact is that unwillingness is based on the downside of having commissioners read in the media about matters that they don't already know about. Commissioners don't like that, but as far as we can see, there is no reason why the public's elected representatives should always demand to know more than their constituents do.
Finally, the county administrator needs to know that he or she is free to look at all the possible solutions to the problems of providing the most government services with the least financial burden on taxpayers. Without that freedom, the creativity of the best administrators is stifled, to the detriment of the public interest; while the worst administrators become too timid to lead and instead take a role as mere followers of the latest trend in public opinion for fear of getting too far out in front of commissioners who can put them out of a job with a simple majority vote at any time.
We salute David Hamilton for giving an honest response to a legitimate reportorial question and then doing his best after the fact to smooth things over with unhappy commissioners. We suggest to commissioners that they try to temper their remarks any time that an administrator or any other county employee tries to fulfill his or her role in a "Sunshine Law" environment where transparency is not only a good idea but is legally mandated. There is nothing in the law that says elected officials have to know what they are going to see in the news media before it comes out. That kind of attitude demands they be placed in a superior position to the constituents they serve and is antithetical to the kind of open government that Government in the Sunshine stands for.
And at the same time, we note that none of this brouhaha would have happened absent some reporter's or editor's decision that getting commissioner comments about the administrator's answer to a question THEY ASKED is front page news. That's part of the reason that Hernando News Source seeks to focus on events that occur, rather than calling officials for "comment" on a media-created story. Our judgment is that such comments are rarely news in the classic definition but rather are created by the media itself for its own purposes.
Thanks, Mr. Hamilton, for out of the (politically correct) box thinking with your honest response. No thanks, to those commissioners who seem to see their administrator as a robot repeating only those lines of dialogue that are approved in advance. Much more of that, and we should not be surprised if Hamilton chooses the path already trod out of Hernando by the likes of Bonnie Dyga, Paul McIntosh, and Gary Adams.
Now on to those stories you could have seen first or only at Hernando News Source this week:
MONDAY
S. BROOKSVILLE PLANS AIRED AT COMMUNITY MEETING
HAMILTON SMOOTHS RUFFLED FEATHERS OVER GAS TAX COMMENTS
When told that a newspaper headline said he was in "hot water" with commissioners, County Administrator David Hamilton expressed surprise this weekend. Hamilton told Hernando News Source he has talked to county commissioners quoted in the news as critical of his gas tax idea and says he thinks they are okay with him. Hamilton said he responded to another newspaper's editorial board last week when they asked about additional revenue sources for the county. He noted that the idea of increasing the current county gas tax level had come up before and could be discussed again. Hernando's nine cents per gallon of local tax is three less than could be levied under state law. But though Hamilton said he stands by the idea of looking at more money for roads from a bigger gas tax, he also said he thinks any increase ought to be decided by voters in a referendum and not imposed by the County Board, even though four of five commissioners would need to vote yes on the issue.
PORT AUTHORITY CHAIR TAKES BOTTLE OF WATER TO TALLAHASSEE
TUESDAY
SCHOOL BOARD ADDS TEACHER TO MAGNET SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The board also approved purchase of 397 Advanced Placement exams for Central High School and 500 for the Springstead AP program at a total cost of almost $78,000. And board members passed a resolution saluting the Early Learning Coaltion of Pasco and Hernando Counties for an award the group received recently for its transition from depending on contract services to an independently operated organization with 20 new staff positions.
WEDNESDAY
HERNANDO RATES BELOW AVERAGE IN HEALTH RANKINGS
FASANO: CONSUMERS NEED REVERSE MORTGAGE PROTECTION
State Senator Mike Fasano has filed Senate Bill 1532 to put some consumer protections regarding reverse mortgages into law. Reverse mortgages are loans designed for people who have significant equity in their homes to take cash or periodic payments from a lender with the equity as collateral.
“My primary concern is that not one senior citizen be taken advantage of by an unscrupulous lender of reverse mortgages,” Fasano said. The Hernando and Pasco lawmaker said some reverse mortgages have been marketed as an easy way for people to supplement their income during retirement. He said that some borrowers don't understand the transaction and that some unscrupulous lenders can turn a reverse mortage into a nightmare for the consumer. Fasano said
"This legislation will ensure that people will have provisions in law that will reduce the likelihood of exploitation.”
Senate Bill 1532 has passed all committees of reference in the Senate and now awaits action by the full Senate when the legislative session convenes in two weeks.
FREEZE-DAMAGED CITRUS TREES MAY HAVE COMEBACK IN STORE
Urban Horticulture Extension Agent Jim Moll says there's still a chance that citrus trees that seem to have been seriously damaged by this winter's multiple cold snaps could stage a comeback. Moll conducted a citrus growing clinic for about two dozen interested residents at the Spring Hill library Wednesday. He said even though trees may have dropped fruit or lost all their leaves, warm spring and summer weather could bring them back to life. He said it's unlikely that trees which survive will have much or any fruit for the next year or two, but unless there is splitting along trunks or branches, Moll said the tree will probably survive.
The class was one of several hosted on a variety of topics by the County Extension Service. Moll pointed out that most home-gorwn citrus doesn't look as good as fruit from stores, but that the issue is usually a purely cosmetic one. He told the group several times that if they want citrus that looks good, they should buy it, but if they want citrus that tastes good, they should grow it.
THURSDAY
ONCE A WEEK WATERING NEAR END?
District staff say the recommendation to go back to twice a week watering is based on healthy winter rainfall especially in the central and southern portions of the district, which stretches from Ocala to Fort Myers. Local water-watchers aren't so sure that the time is right for the switch, since the northern area that includes Hernando received less rainfall from the El Nino winter weather pattern, and the driest months of the year are just ahead.
The staff recommendation could be acted upon as early as Monday, when the district's governing board meets in Tarpon Springs.
BROWN-WAITE CHALLENGER WANTS INSURANCE MONEY RETURNED
Democrat congressional candidate Jim Piccillo is calling on incumbent Republican Ginny Brown-Waite to return $2,000 in campaign contributions from an insurance company. Jim Piccillo of Land O Lakes says the donation from WellPoint Insurance is "blood money." In a media release this week, Piccillo said he's calling for return of WellPoint's contributions as a result of news media reports about WellPoint increasing premiums by 39% days after posting a $2.7 billion fourth-quarter profit. Piccillo said “WellPoint's greedy price-hike scheme is right out of the Wall Street handbook; designed to make them rich while families lose their health care coverage.”
Piccillo said he supports reducing health insurance costs by reforming the health care system and noted that Brown-Waite voted for a bill to protect insurance companies like WellPoint that he said put more than $150,000 toward Brown-Waite's re-election two years ago. "It should make people wonder who Ginny Brown-Waite is really working for; big insurance companies or us, her constituents,” said Piccillo.
re: editorial
Bravo!
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