Decisions, Decisions

The WayneWho staff suggests that we dub this week Budget Week for Osceola County Government. Even though most budget numbers have already been approved, the decisions on how to fund, or cut-back, to achieve the budget will be made this week. While we are critical of the decisions the Osceola County Commissioners have made so far, we do have to acknowledge that they are facing an almost impossible task of creating a properly funded and functioning government because of years of mismanagement and poor decision making. Fixing the problems created by past commissions would be nothing less than a miracle.

We do not expect miracles today, we are just hoping for common sense.

The county is under-the-gun to get a budget figured out and passed with funding in place. The problem is that the county is going to have to raise more fees and taxes, than they already have, to even come close to funding a scaled back selection of government services. The problem for the taxpayers is that staff and government are not usually good at prioritizing services in order of importance to average residents. At the meeting today, we will find out if our newest set of elected officials are up to the task.

The commission meeting set for today is critical for our community and will provide the best opportunity for residents to see who controls their government. Do the land barons, ranchers, and development community still control politics in Osceola County because of their ability to give large campaign contributions, or do residents actually have a say in what happens considering they are the ones footing the bill for government enterprises. One issue on the table today is whether or not to close fire stations. Voting to increase the Osceola County Fire Services fee will only cost the average home owner $5.00 extra. While the land controlling elites who have enjoyed the free-ride in Osceola County for decades are set to pay more, their increase will only be to pay for their fair-share of usage. The, already approved, Fire Department budget and the new methodology for collecting the Fire Services fee should stand and be approved. If anything should be adjusted, it should be the amount of money from the General Fund that should be used to supplement the Fire Department's budget to decrease how much the fire fee needs to collect.

We agree with the critics who have e-mailed us about the continuing wasteful spending in the county budget. More money could be saved and diverted into the general fund with the idea it is only spent on public safety services. Our problem is that we do not believe our commission should be involved in a game of chicken with public safety. If they are not sure where to cut to find the funding to properly fund our Fire Department, then pass the Fire Fee study as is and secure the safety of the public. This is government's most basic job and flinching now only puts people, including our public safety employees, at risk.

If commissioners are not sure what to cut, just ask. Special pay for watching health class video tapes is an example of mis-spent money that was brought before the commission that barely got a nod of recognition. We would also recommend that the entire Economic Development Department along with all of its extravagant government salaries should be cut. The experiment of throwing money into the black hole of economic development has not worked. Secret code names and tons of tax money have produced no honest results in the way of job creation. In the opinion of the WayneWho staff, scorched buildings littering the county because we did not have the resources to protect the structures would do much more to hurt economic development than getting rid of the Economic Development Department. Why would a company invest in building here if the risk of the investment burning down was elevated beyond that of other communities? Maybe that is a question we should ask the Economic Development Director at the meeting today. We bet we would get an interesting and animated answer.