HNS WEEKEND---FEBRUARY 27-28, 2010



HERNANDO NEWS SOURCE COMMENTARY

CAUTION LIGHT FOR RED-LIGHT CAMERAS
Highway photo surveillance generates heated discussion and revenue, but safety claims are disputed, revenue is decreasing, and the state could ban the cameras or take its own (big) share of the pot...

The first citations for violating Brooksville's red-light camera ordinance were delivered about nine months ago, and the debate continues about the program.  The cameras take pictures of vehicles that run red lights or that fail to stop before turning right.  The citation arrives in the mail, and unless the driver was unauthorized by the vehicle's owner or a mechanical failure or emergency prevented a legal stop, the owner owes $125 to the City of Brooksville.
Actually, $40 of each cite goes to ATS, the vendor who sold city officials on the program and installs the cameras.  But the remaining money is being used by the city for road projects, and camera proponents say it's all about traffic safety anyway.  Though the city initially expected a million dollars in yearly revenue from the program, it now seems that the amount will be less than that, and as the cameras keep clicking, the pattern in cities throughout the country has been a reduction in camera revenue.
That tends to support the argument of Brooksville mayor Lara Bradburn that the camera program is all about traffic safety.  As drivers become aware that they are on "candid camera" at intersections, they will pay more attention to the traffic signals and are more likely to comply with the law.

Not everyone agrees, though.  Opponents have cited statistics that the incidence of rear-end collisions increase when cameras are monitoring intersections, since drivers that once went on through the yellow light are suddenly braking to avoid having a picture snapped.  Yet the very decline in revenue that other cities are experiencing seems to argue in favor of increased safety based on fewer red light runners.
Some of the more vocal opponents of the cameras have suggested boycotts of businesses on property where the cameras are mounted.  Because the state doesn't allow the cameras in the right of way, the city had to obtain agreements with property owners to keep the cameras off the state's property.  But a business boycott may not have much impact, especially where a business might just be leasing the property and therefore at the mercy of a landlord who's pleased to take a small cut of the camera revenue windfall. 
Through all the debate, it seems the city ought to be exercising the same caution it requires of drivers when the light turns yellow.  First, the revenue stream is likely to decrease, and could take a drastic drop if bills in the state Legislature to divert a big share of the fine to the state's coffers pass this year.  The caution light from Tallahassee may be especially bright, since there are actually competing bills to allow and to disallow cameras.  Second, even if Tallahassee doesn't weigh in directly, the judicial system has literally dozens of lawsuits challenging red light programs, including Brooksville's, and a first court ruling this week came down on the side of camera challengers.  Unless the doubts about city authority are quickly resolved by the Legislature or the courts, the city will have to divert some of the revenue stream to litigation.
In fact, the pending litigation was given as the public reason for canceling a scheduled city council workshop on cameras recently.  Officially, the departure of resigned councilman David Pugh, the council's only mildly critical voice on cameras, had nothing to do with the cancellation.
So where does that leave the cameras?  Seems clear they'll continue taking pictures for now, at least until the Legislature weighs in on them or the cameras become an issue in the city elections in November, where a majority of the council seats are up to voters to fill.  That's why the caution light is flashing for the city...if the Legislature decides either to ban cameras or, more likely, to take a big share of the revenue for the state; or if the voters decide to make the cameras an issue, the city could have a big revenue hole to fill in next year's budget.  We could be nearing the time when the City of Brooksville needs to anticipate the camera light turning red and getting ready to apply the brakes.




Now here is our weekly review of the top stories reported first or only at HernandoNewsSource.com:

MONDAY

HAMILTON WANTS VISION PLAN TO GUIDE COASTAL INITIATIVES

County Administrator David Hamilton told the Coastal Hernando Initiative Project team members Monday that the group needs to emulate the county's other community initiative.  He said he wants the various coastal community groups to meet over the next three months to come up with a Vision Plan to guide the county's implementation of coastal projects.  He cited the concrete steps being taken to make improvements in south Brooksville and said real movement only began to happen once the community developed a comprehensive vision plan for redevelopment of the area.  Hamilton asked a half-dozen coastal area groups to meet and discuss a plan that could be presented at the next Coastal Hernando Initiatives Project meeting in May.
The Monday meeting also featured reports on a drainage project due to start on Pine Island in April and an update on the process of installing fire hydrants along several streets in coastal area subdivisions where hydrants are not currently in place.

WATER FEES CASE GOES BACK TO COURT THIS WEEK

Lawyers for Nick Morana and Hernando County go back to court this week in the latest chapter of six years of litigation over utility regulatory fees collected by the county.  Morana and his lawyer Joe Mason want almost four million dollars in fees refunded to customers of Florida Water Services, while the county is using the collected funds this year for water and sewer upgrades.  Morana's lawsuit has bounced from judge to judge, and even from court to court over the years. 
The suit claims the money came from customers and should go back to customers.  The county says Florida Water paid the fees and never made a separate charge to customers. 
So far the case has been in Peyton Hyslop's county court, went to an appeals court in Daytona Beach, then to federal court in Tampa, and is now back in Hernando and being heard by Circuit Judge Victor Musleh.  A hearing last week resulted in a split decision on various motions and comes back to Judge Musleh later this week for unresolved issues.  The hearing will decide whether or not there will be a trial or a summary judgment. 
In either case, more appeals are likely, and none of the lawyers are predicting when it will end.  For his part, Mason says the county should not be spending the money until the case is over and also wants $30-40,000 for attorney's fees based on a long-running public records dispute.  County lawyers advised commissioners to put the money in this year's budget after holding it in a separate fund for most of the case.  They told the County Board they are confident enough of the eventual outcome to spend the funds now.

BOOM YEAR FOR SOD?  COLD SNAP MAY HAVE DEVASTATED FLORITAM GRASS

It could be a money-making year for sod businesses in the wake of the prolonged January cold snap.  Urban horticulturalist Jim Moll of the County Extension Service said the two weeks of low temperatures without the usual warming days could make it hard for many Floritam lawns in Hernando County to recover.  Moll says some green blades may already be reappearing, but it will take several more weeks to know if the rest of a lawn will come back.  He says there's no point in pouring water on the lawn in an effort to green it up, as only time will tell how much of the grass will survive.
The potential windfall for sod dealers and installers comes just as the Southwest Florida Water Management District appears ready to lift a water shortage declaration.  The district's governing board meets Monday in Tarpon Springs, and though the agenda does not disclose the staff recommendation on watering restrictions, it's expected that input on El Nino rainfall throughout the district will likely weigh in favor of a return to pre-shortage twice-a-week lawn watering.



TUESDAY

COUNTY COULD JOIN RESIDENTS' FIGHT AGAINST LANDFILL

County attorneys say they will look into the options for joining east county residents opposing a construction and demolition debris landfill at Remington Road and Wildlife Lane.  County commissioners listened to several neighbors to the state-approved landfill complain that the operation  poses a threat to groundwater, lowers their property values, and overburdens their local  roads.
Attorneys first said there didn't seem to be any legal options  based on a 1998 settlement of a zoning dispute that allowed the landfill. 
Assistant County Attorney Jon Jouben defended changes agreed to in the court order accepting the settlement.  He said eliminating a county spotter won't affect checks on material going in the landfill but would  avoid potential county liability for spotter errors.  And he said the county saved big costs by requiring the landfill operator to fund construction of a quarter-mile of road at the east end of Wildlife Lane.
But commissioners said they wanted to find a way to stay in the residents' fight against the landfill.  They're planning an appeal to a state hearing officer of  the DEP landfill permit.  Attorneys said they would investigate the options.

SOUTH BROOKSVILLE ACTION GETS COUNTY BOARD BACKING

At the urging of Community Initiatives Team chairman Rose Rocco, county commissioners approved a resolution in favor of going forward with agreement with the City of Brooksville to pave the way for $4.7 million in federal and state grant and loan funding for south Brooksville water and sewer upgrades.  County Administrator David Hamilton called the resolution "One of the first major steps in the ongoing work of community initiative teams and the culmination of a year and a half of work."  The Brooksville City Council is due to consider the same resolution  next week.  Hamilton says an interlocal agreement and application for funding should be done by late Spring.
Initiative team member Paul Douglas said community residents support the resolution but plan to keep the pressure on the local governments to follow through with an overall vision plan for redevelopment of the historically neglected area.
Utilities staff told the board they are moving forward on drainage improvement concepts, but warned that eliminating frequent flooding in the area could cost as much as $13 million.  Added to water and sewer upgrades, the total cost would be almost $20 million and could require major debt service expenditures, depending on how large a loan is required and how much in grant money may be available.

NO GAS TAX TALK, BUT ADKINS GETS APRIL CHARTER WORKSHOP

If there is to be a County Board workshop on raising the local gas tax, commissioners agreed on the date Tuesday...the workshop would be April 31.  That was the facetious suggestion of County Administrator Davide Hamilton, who acknowledged that there was no board support for discussing a move to increase a tax, even to help fund stalled projects such as County Line Road.  Of course, April has only 30 days.
Commissioner Jim Adkins requested board consensus to do away with any gas tax workshop, after Hamilton drew fire last week from commissioners unhappy that he publicly discussed a gas tax hike as an option for raising revenue.
Adkins also asked for the board to schedule charter government on the workshop agenda for next Tuesdayy, March 2.  But other board members and staff indicated that a late add-on to an already long agenda didn't seem like the best idea.  Adkins got his charter government workshop, but it's now scheduled for April 6.

HARD TIMES HIT HERNANDO AIRPORT BUSINESSES, COUNTY BOTTOM LINE

A hopeful hotel builder got a big break from county commissioners Tuesday.  The Aviation Authority and staff had recommended lowering the tenant's lease payments because hotel financing had fallen through due to the recession.  The airport director said the Authority wanted to cut the lease payment from $6,000 a month down to $1,200, though the tenant, a Crystal River doctor, had asked for an even lower lease option payment, which would be less than $400 a month.  County Board members said the tough economic times justified the lower rate and voted unanimously to put the option back in effect.
Another airport business will keep a lease with the airport, though an adjacent site is being dropped from the  deal.  Duratek had planned a major facility on the additional site but recently decided not to build in Hernando County.  Though initially planning an Ocala location, the company is now saying it's postponing its plans.  Commissioners agreed, noting that the adjacent site is marketable and Duratek is retaining part of the site for local offices.

LAWN WATERING RESTRICTIONS STAY IN PLACE

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board voted Monday to extend water shortage restrictions through June 30 while lifting restrictions on pressure washing for 15 of its 16 counties.  Marion County will continue to follow the St. Johns River Water Management District’s year-round water conservation measures.
The Board voted to maintain most of the water shortage restrictions as the District’s water resources continue to recover from the four-year drought. The District is still suffering from a 28-inch rainfall deficit for the past 48 months. With restrictions still in place, that means the once-a-week lawn watering limit remains in effect in Hernando County.

HERNANDO GOP CHIEF OPTIMISTIC ABOUT STATE PARTY DIRECTION CHANGE

Hernando Republican Party chief Blaise Ingoglia had a busy weekend, between the Friday "major announcement" that Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite will run again and get married, to the state party confab in Orlando that elected a new leader, to a Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday night in Pinellas County.  But Ingoglia told Hernando News Source that he's hopeful new state GOP leader John Thrasher will put the party back on track to elect conservatives this fall.  Ingoglia wouldn't say how he voted in the contest, but he said Thrasher is off to a "good start" by calling for an audit of state party finances,  The local leader was one of the critics of former party chief Jim Greer, and he said he supports the audit and an Attorney General's probe of possible criminal activity regarding the previous regime's "wasteful spending and lack of accountability."
Ingoglia said that although Thrasher is a sitting state senator, he will give him "the benefit of the doubt" in his efforts to "put control back in the hands of Republican grassroots leaders."  He said his favorite part of Thrasher's acceptance speech was when he told party members that "our enemies are the liberal media and Democrats, not fellow Republicans."



WEDNESDAY

SCHOOL BOARD LOOKS AT SAVINGS, NEW HIGH SCHOOL ZONES

The Hernando County School Board has a busy Tuesday in store next week.  At an afternoon workshop the board will work with transportation staffers looking at alternatives for saving money.  Among the possibilities are staggered school starting times, restricting magnet school transportation, and changing policy on transporting students who live within two miles of a neighborhood school. 
Later board members discuss statistics on participation in middle school sports and will look at potential cutbacks.
While saving money is the workshop focus, spending money is no longer on the agenda.  A $25 million master plan for new facilities at Springstead High School was postponed from earlier this month and expected to be on the March 2 workshop agenda, but it's not there.  Principal Susan Duval's efforts to reduce portable classrooms and make Springstead comparable in facilities to newer high schools will apparently not be a board topic, at least for next week.
And the regular Tuesday night meeting features a public hearing and scheduled final approval of new attendance zones for Springstead and Central High Schools to accommodate the opening of the new Weeki Wachee High.  Some parents affected by the proposed new zones have complained that they didn't get enough notice of the changes.

COUNCIL TO ADDRESS SOUTH BROOKSVILLE IMPROVEMENTS

One day after county commissioners approved a plan for moving forward with south Brooksville redevelopment, the city of Brooksville released a council agenda for next Monday that also includes a resolution approving the process.  Under the formal commitment urged by the county's Community Initiatives Team an interlocal agreement would be done by early summer that would allow the city and county to seek federal and state grants and funding for water and sewer upgrades.  Community leaders have sought a commitment to begin the redevelopment process and say they will watch carefully for additional steps beyond the initial phase of redevelopment.  They also want to see relief for stormwater drainage woes that cause regular flooding in the neglected predominantly African-American community.

THURSDAY

TOURIST REVENUES STILL DECLINING, ECONOMY BLAMED

Tourist tax revenues are still dropping, according to a report to the Hernando County Tourist Development Council Thursday.  TDC Director Sue Rupe told members that the bed tax revenues were down nine percent in the first quarter of the fiscal year.  She said January figures were not complete yet, but board members noted that the big motor coach rally that usually attracts a lot of local spending seemed to be well short of numbers seen in previous years, and they shared other anecdotal evidence that tourist volume continues to fall as the recession hangs on.  The revenue decline continues a year-long trend, according to TDC figures.
Rupe also said she was going to begin putting various revenue and tourism statistics on the TDC web site to help local residents understand what money was coming in and where it was going.

GBW:  HEALTH SUMMIT IS "DOG-AND-PONY SHOW"

President Obama meets with Congressional leaders from both parties Thursday morning for a televised summit on health care reform.  But some Florida Republicans are skeptical of the effort.
Brooksville Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite says the president doesn't seem to understand how the public feels about this.  "The American people have resoundingly rejected the plans thus far," said Brown-Waite.  She added that it seems that Obama only wants a dog-and-pony show.
"I believe it's nothing other than a photo op," said Brown-Waite. "He'll be able to say my negotiations were televised over C-SPAN."
Brown-Waite said all of the plans are too expensive, and she's concerned about the impact on the business community.



FRIDAY

E-VERIFY COMES WITH COST TO COUNTY, BIDDERS

County commissioners have been warned in the agenda package for next Tuesday's workshop that the E-Verify program will come with added cost for the county and its contractors and vendors.  Purchasing chief Jim Gantt tells board members in a memo that "there will be a cost to the public" to adopt the program.  Gantt says a program compliance monitor will need to be hired to receive and verify the employment information from all entities that contract with the county and to ensure that information remains current.  For contractors and vendors that don't already use the E-Verify program, the added cost of doing so will likely be reflected in prices offered or bid.
Commissioners have talked about E-Verify for several years, but Tuesday's workshop is the first major step to embracing the program locally.  It's administered by the federal Homeland Security Department.  Although several states require E-Verify use by employers, a chart included in the agenda package notes that some states have pending legislation to prohibit E-Verify use.  Anecdotal reports indicate the program still has some bugs.  The Homeland Security presentation notes that mismatches occur, although it says the accuracy rate is improving.

COMMISSIONERS CONSIDER RADIO SYSTEM, JAIL WORK PROGRAM

Tuesday's County Board workshop also features presentations on the status of the county's radio communications system and saving money at the jail with a work program for weekend inmates. 
Officials say the county radio system is showing its age and could use upgrading.  The system was recently switched to a new bandwidth spectrum as part of a national deal funded mainly by a wireless provider who wanted more room among the radio frequencies used by public entities.  Though some replacement equipment was part of the deal, the presentation indicates that it's time to seek funding for replacing older radios and dispatch equipment.
Commissioners will also hear about programs in other counties that put weekend inmates to work for community agencies and governments.  The weekend inmates are sentenced to serve brief county jail terms on weekends only.  Officials estimated more than $55,000 in yearly savings from implementing the program, though neighboring counties have reported high rates of violation of the rules of their programs.

LANDFILL FOES TAKE FIGHT TO COUNTY, SEEK TRUCK BAN ON ACCESS ROAD

The big hole in the ground behind the "No Trespassing, Construction Site" sign is causing big concerns for residents in the rural east county neighborhood near the hole.  It's the proposed construction and demolition debris landfill that state regulators have tentatively approved.  Worried neighbors say they may have a strategy that could make it difficult on the landfill operator.  They want the county to ban truck traffic on High Corner Road, a narrow ribbon of pavement that provides access to Wildlife Lane.
A 1998 settlement between the County and a previous owner of the landfill property says trucks will be allowed to access the site only by Wildlife Lane, but it doesn't say anything about High Corner Road, which goes north from Cortez Blvd. to the west end of Wildlife Lane.  The residents say they met with a county lawyer who agreed to look into the possibility of a High Corner Road truk ban.  They also passed along the new strategy to a lawyer they have hired to look into an appeal of the state permit notice.
A community meeting has been called for Monday night at the nearby Hillside Baptist Church to consider the next move in the fight against the landfill. 

NEW MONEY PAVES WAY FOR ENRICHMENT CENTER

The Hernando County Enrichment Center has reportedly been promised an additional $600,000 in grant money to build a new center and storm shelter at the City of Brooksville's Quarry Golf Course.  The additional funding for rebuilding an old mining structure on the city property will apparently cover not only the full cost of the reconstruction but will also allow an expanded center and facilities. The city is already planning to use extra space in the facility for a golf course pro shop and maintenance area.
The Brooksville City Council has an Enrichment Center item on its consent agenda for Monday night's meeting, but Hernando News Source has been told that finalizing an exhibit for a city-center agreement will now need to be postponed for two weeks while the new funding is considered.  Source of the extra money was not immediately known but was thought to be federal and state funding for storm shelters.

Posted by Hernando News Source at February 26, 2010
Categories: uncategorized
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this entry
  • No trackbacks exist for this entry.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this entry.
Leave a comment

Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.