County worries about economic impact

Chiefland Citizen, October 4, 2001
By MIKE BOWDOIN

Budget tightening urged
The economic effects that have rippled through the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will begin rocking Levy County soon, according to a warning issued by Levy County Board of County Commissioners Chairman Sammy Yearty at the board's Oct. 2 meeting.

Yearty announced that he had received a message from the Florida Association of Counties forecasting a $1.2 billion budget shortfall at the state level and warning that Florida's counties will probably not get as much state funding as they have become accustomed to.

Yearty said that a decline in tourism in the state will mean much-lower-than-expected takes on sales taxes, bed taxes and gas taxes, and that the state's increased security spending will also take away from available funds. Although the county recently adopted a $50,876,734 budget for the upcoming fiscal year, all bets seem to be off for now as Yearty, with the board's support, has issued a directive to all department heads to keep a tight grip on their expenses.

"Our department heads need to be extremely conservative in their spending," said Yearty. "We need to proceed with caution."

Whether Yearty will be able to rein in government spending with a mere memorandum remains to be seen. Even though the board was able to trim the county's initial total budget request of over $52 million significantly, the approved budget still requires the county to dip liberally into reserve accounts in order to be sustainable, and it was drawn up before the state's economic slump was fully realized.

However, even as he predicted that the county will soon be looking for funds, Yearty claimed that he was unwilling to raise taxes.

Later in the meeting he told emergency officers to put a proposed hike in the rate of ambulance charges on hold until the economic outlook seems more clear.

"I know at some point in time we're going to have to bring them up in line with what other counties are charging, but times are bad for everyone and we have to tighten our belts as well," said Yearty. "I'm not in a mood to raise taxes right now."

Yearty received a somewhat sarcastic compliment from John King of Chiefland, who congratulated him for wanting to save the taxpayers some money, but noted that the county's politicians had all quietly just received handsome raises in accordance with the state's pay plan.

King, who officially declared his candidacy for the 2002 District Two County Commission race last week, used the opportunity to make a pitch for charter government. He said that a charter could be written to give Levy County citizens control over their politicians' salaries which they do not currently have.

See October 4, 2001 issue of Chiefland Citizen for original article.