Double Digits

If anyone happened to catch the news over the weekend, they would have noticed that Osceola County has broken the 10% unemployment barrier. Even with all of the promises by candidates and elected officials to 'bring jobs' into our area, it seems that the mistakes and mismanagement of the past have forced a new reality. An unemployment level in Osceola county of 10.7%, which, by all accounts, is still rising.

While the WayneWho staff is very aware that the economic crisis we are now in is unfolding on a national stage, we still believe that using smart government strategies could have made this time in Osceola more bearable. We know that the promises of candidates and elected officials to 'create jobs' were convenient election and re-election white lies, but we have to question if the past and current actions are even remotely helping to create or save jobs? If we look back to the beginning of this new commission's reign, we see more housing related projects approved than we do job creation projects. While the commission offers distraction issues on building green and raising gas taxes, that hide the fact that they are continuing down the same course of reckless development, more and more jobs vanish.

The WayneWho staff understands that in difficult times such as these, jobs are going to be lost. Our problem is that the county, and other local governments, have lost any sensibility when it comes to what they should be doing. There is no plan except to spend money on anything that some consultant says is smart, and to let developers have their way with us. This must end.

Today there is an item on the Board of County Commissioners agenda under the 'Department of Economic Development' that is an approval to renew a contract and increase the level of search engine optimization services which will cost the taxpayers an additional $285,600. While even us old folks realize that times are changing and that new advertising arenas must be used, is it smart to spend $585,600 in the face of county staffing cuts and an expanding local homeless population, to be seen on the Internet? Especially at the direction of a 'Department' who owns the current economic disaster in Osceola County? We guess it is also just adding insult to injury that the firm, POP Multimedia Incorporated based out of Seattle Washington does not fit the 'Buy Local' banner elected officials have wrapped themselves in like a child's security blanket. 'Buy Local' hell, we cannot even keep the taxpayers' money in the State of Florida. And what kind of questions will the County Commissioners ask? Will they ask for any documentation that shows the taxpayers who are covering the tab for this Internet adventure have received some benefit of the money spent? How many companies that have decided to relocated to Osceola County because they found us while playing on the Internet? What is the return on the taxpayers investment? How many jobs have been created? What words can we type into a search engine to find the economic development website? Will any of these questions be asked, or will it be the usual, 'Move to Approve'?
Of course the Osceola County Economic Development Department is not alone in their shameful spending. We can always count on the Osceola County School Board to waste money while preparing to lay off teachers. Last week the School Board heard a presentation out of Texas (not located in Osceola County) called Energy Educators who will 'guaranty energy savings at a certain percentage through behavior modification and take 35% of the savings as payment' according to a un-official press release from our good friend School Board Member Jay Wheeler. We missed the meeting, so we are not sure about how much taxpayer money were are talking about giving this company, but we believe this should not be approved in any fashion. Paying any company, especially one that does not fit the new campaign pledge of 'Buy Local', to tell us to make sure we turn the lights off when we are not in a room, is just pure stupidity. Is their pay based on the type of behavior modification techniques they employ? Is the Osceola County School Board sanctioning water-boarding for those who forget to turn their computers off at night? Nonsense.

All of this loony legislating is what we have witnessed while the unemployment rates have surged to 10.7%. We see more money being spent on wasteful items now than we did during the bubble boom over the past several years while the unemployment rate has continued to accelerate. At a time when failure is not an option, it seems the only thing our local governments, and their departments, can do is create a strategy leading us directly into failure. Let's just hope that we don't have to pay to have people find us on the Internet for the term '14.5% unemployment'. That would be tragic.