It’s a going to be a tough budget year for the state of Florida so don’t expect a lot of cash to come from Tallahassee.
That was the word from Thursday’s legislative delegation hearing in Apalachicola.
State representatives Leonard Bembry and Jimmy Patronis along with newly-elected state senator Bill Montford said the legislature will be wrestling with a 3 and a half billion dollar budget hole this year and that means making a lot of hard choices.
Local officials said they know all about tight budgets but they warned that the state had better not try to balance its budget by forcing the counties to pay more in unfunded mandates.
County commissioner Smokey Parrish said Franklin county is already trying to find ways to pay for required services like the landfill even though the state has already cut about 200 thousand dollars from the amount it kicks in every year.
Apalachicola Mayor Van Johnson also complained that the state is not making good on its financial obligations.
Mayor Johnson said Apalachicola needs the state to fully fund the escrow account the state created to repair the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Because the account is not fully funded it’s not drawing enough interest to make the payments for the repair work and the city can’t afford to begin paying the money from its own budget.
Mayor Johnson said the problem will get worse soon because the workcamp in Apalachicola will shut down when construction of a new site is completed at the state prison in Carrabelle.
That, he said, is a 100 thousand dollar a year customer no longer using city water.
There were plenty of other financial needs discussed.
The school system says it needs to get more sparcity money, The Clerk of the court’s office pointed out that clerk’s budgets have been hit hard in recent years because of changes in the way the offices are funded, and Reverend John Sink said that local affordable housing programs have been impacted by state cuts in SCHIPP funding.
But the discussions weren’t all about money.
Judge Van Russell asked that the legislature take a closer look at the needs of the oyster industry and possibly consider reinstating check stations.
Alan Pierce asked for help in keeping the mosquito lab in Panama City and that the legislature repeal the septic tank law that will require increased inspections at homeowner expense.
Sheriff Skip Shiver asked that the state increase it efforts to shut down pill mills in Florida and Apalachicola resident Tom Daly asked that the representatives take a closer look at plans by Progress Energy to run high tension lines through Apalachicola.
The representatives said they will do what they can but added that this will be a very interesting session.
Senator Montford said we should be seeing a lot of him over the coming years as he plans to open a Senate office in Apalachicola.
http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments
No comments:
Post a Comment