The Board of Pinellas County Commission had a very sober Tuesday as they listened to officials tell them they need to cut $80 from their budgets for the next two fiscal years of 2011 and 2012. The BOCC agreed to do a 60/20 split, meaning they will try to cut $60 million from next year’s budget and $20 in 2012.
At a workshop with the Sheriff’s Dept. and other constitutional officers, discussions about consolidating services were conducted.
Commissioner Ken Welch said the board is looking at furloughs, “which we never looked at before.” He also said that they were looking at early retirements as well, but “at the end of the day there’s no way to avoid layoffs.”
Among the departments where Commissioners seemed to agree would be a place to raise fees would be for parks, like Fort De Soto.
However, despite the $60 million the County will need to find places to cut, there is no discussion at all on raising the millage increase. That’s because Commissioner Welch broached the idea, and got a thundering silence after doing so.
County citizens better be prepared for reduced services. Commissioners were informed during Tuesday’s meeting that they would be reverting back to 2003 level.
To say that charging to visit parks in Pinellas will be controversial is an understatement. A surfeit of comments on the Web site of the St. Petersburg Times indicated that many citizens are extremely unhappy about the prospect.
But with $60 million to balance, there may be plenty of other items that will ultimately upset the rank and file in Pinellas.
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2010.
