More than 70
people, mostly leaders of government, education and industry,
recently
were offered an eye-opening look at the fiscal picture in Florida
and how state budget
pressures may affect state and local governments now and into the
future.
Presenting to
the Volusia County Council in a workshop organized by County
Manager Jim Dinneen, Arrington &Marlowe—a strategy development and
management
consulting firm with expertise in governments and public agencies,
nonprofit organizations and private sector clients—painted what they
admitted was a grim forecast.
Dinneen
organized the workshop as part of the County Council’s preparation
for
county budget deliberations later this year.
“The
confluence of a stagnant economy, property tax reforms and
substantial cuts in
the state budget are affecting Volusia County,” said Larry
Arrington, whose perspective on Volusia County includes having
served as its second County Manager from 1995-2000. “It’s a
situation that is having a profound effect on the ability of county
government to maintain services that residents and businesses rely
upon. The bottom line will dictate that those services if not
eliminated entirely will at the very least be delivered in a
different manner.”
Arrington &
Marlow delivered an 85-slide presentation that touched on dozens of
factors contributing to the challenges before Florida’s state and
local governments. The
presentation cited the fact that the state budget is nearly double
what it was in 2000 and that expenses are outpacing income by a wide
margin. But with no appetite in Tallahassee to raise taxes, sunset
tax exemptions or even discuss the concepts of a tax on services or
income, cutting expenses is the only option. Short of finding new
sources of income, that option will result in state budget cuts of
$2 billion for starters.
Arrington said
that property tax reductions mandated by the voter-approved
“Amendment One” will have negative effects on business, harm the
local economy and fail to help the sagging housing market. Another
tax reform proposal favored by some state leaders that would place a
cap on state and local government revenues and expenditures would
“devastate local services.”
State budget
cuts also will have negative impacts on public education, county
provided
health and human services, law enforcement and the department of
corrections.
Already, many capital projects have been put on hold or rescheduled.
This particularly
is challenging with regard to Volusia County’s road program, which
is designed to keep up with growth and changing traffic
patterns. Many projects of the road program already have been delayed
for several years.
“We have been
telling residents the budget crisis will affect our ability to
provide
essential services,” said County Manager Jim Dinneen. “We have been
trying to increase productivity through internal reorganization,
consolidation of duties, attrition and a hiring freeze. Still, it
appears we are in the thick of it and we can expect the squeeze to
tighten, with no relief on the horizon. So, it’s our job to do the
very most we can, the very best way we can, within the confines of
the funding that is available, no matter what the level of funding
happens to be.”
