The Martin County
Defender
The e-newsletter for aware citizens – No. 82
Facing the budget crunch
Budget shortfalls are hitting cities, counties and states across the country. Florida’s shortfall of $5.1 billion, third largest in the nation, is likely to mean that the state will try to offload more financial obligations on Martin and other counties. If we do not take early action, we could end up like Philadelphia (11 of 54 libraries closed) or Atlanta (salaries of 4,600 employees cut).
One of our long time exasperations with the county’s wasteful spending relates to consultants. At the Dec. 2 Commission meeting, Commissioner Sarah Heard questioned why we are paying consultants who currently work on projects which will not be built for lack of funding. We are told staff is working on a plan to solve that problem, but why was there not such a plan in place six months or a year ago when the crunch was looming.
There is a philosophical issue on what to do with new income that becomes available. This past week the Commission decided, 4-to-1 with Valliere dissenting, that an estimated $250,000 to be gained from allowing cellphone towers in our parks would go into the Parks Department fund so parks can be kept clean, toilets open, and equipment maintained properly. County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne wanted the money to go into the General Fund to avoid a possible bad precedent for other departments. Of course, money sort of vanishes in a General Fund. Commission’s political focus rules when dealing with a highly visible quality of life issue.
Foreclosure help is on the way
There are some 1,400 Martin County properties currently in foreclosure, of which about 200 have reached final judgment. This is more than ten times the normal rate. Further, there are 2,400 properties, with such characteristics as sub-prime mortgages and no owner equity, that are in danger of foreclosure.
To deal with the problem, the county has set up a Foreclosure Task Force led by Community Redevelopment Director Jeff Oris. He outlined the four-phase plan developed by the task force as follows:
- Prevent foreclosures where possible
- Assist residents forced into foreclosure
- Preserve neighborhoods affected by abandoned houses
- Seek state funding for neighborhood stabilization
About $3 million in federal/state funds may be available for this purpose in Martin County, but it is uncertain whether we can get it. Oris will be working to involve a wide range of leaders and organizations to achieve task force goals. Efforts should focus on homesteaders and family businesses, rather than speculators. We hope those asked to participate will step forward to help.
Until Martin’s effort becomes fully operational, residents needing advice about preventing foreclosure can obtain useful information online at www.hopenow.com, or phone 1-888-995-4673. The Federal Office of Housing and Urban Development’s Consumer Counseling Service at 1-800-741-7040 may also be able to help.
There are plenty of mortgage counseling scams around. You can check with the Florida Attorney General’ Consumer Hotline at 1-866-966-7226.
School Board may be losing public support
Some School Board actions this year are causing people to question the wisdom and propriety of its decisions. First is the issue of openness. All these years the Board failed to provide MCTV coverage of its meetings. Now we will have it thanks to the determination and some dollars from a few businessmen. Separately, when it was reported that the former superintendent was skirting the public records law by having e-mails sent to her secretary, the Board did nothing.
Second, in what appeared to be a vindictive act aimed at incoming Superintendent Nancy Kline, the Board broke precedent by signing a three-year contract with the assistant superintendent instead of the usual one-year. Was that payback for Kline’s frequent dissents when she was on the Board?
Third, the Board cuts public input by reducing speaking time from five to three minutes. That partly silences the very people who are the most devoted and willing to speak up about education issues. The excuse that five minute speeches take up too much time is unconvincing. They could meet a second time during the month. Or they could bunch all those nice but time-consuming ceremonial presentations into one Saturday.
Ms. Kline is willing and able to shake up some school matters that need to be changed, especially with regard to transparency, costs and bringing others into the education picture. Our children would benefit by the School Board being more supportive of the newly elected superintendent.
Correction of EAR schedule
In DEFENDER No. 81, we noted the general schedule of EAR (Evaluation and Appraisal Report) hearings over the next 15 months. Through a miscommunication, we erroneously stated that there would be public workshops on the amendments to the Comp Plan in January 2009 at dates and times to be announced. In fact, Growth Management staff is still working on a schedule, due for completion next month, for LPA (Local Planning Agency) public hearings. County staff expects to start taking amendments to the LPA in January, and to begin advertising workshops in January.
EAR-LPA FOLLOW-UP
At the Dec. 4, 2008 LPA meeting, Martin’s Growth Management staff presented a well conceived approach to developing the EAR document. There was particular focus on Land use (Chapter 4), Coastal (Chapter 8), and Conservation (Chapter (9). Even prior to public hearings on these three elements, citizens can not only make general comments, but they can present detailed proposed drafts of amendments for consideration. One leading developer said he plans to do so. Submissions and comments should be sent to Growth Management Director Nicki vanVonno: nikkiv@martin.fl.us . Public comments may be sent simultaneously to LPA’s Administrative Specialist Joan Seaman at jseaman@martin.fl.us.
As part of making Comp Plan provisions consistent and compatible with one another, and correcting scrivener errors, Growth Management plans to have it reviewed for understandable, plain language. Good idea, but here is where we run into an uh-oh. They plan to hire still another consultant to act as an editor to achieve clarity. Bad idea in these financially difficult times. It’s falling back on no longer affordable old habits: extra work – hire a consultant. If there aren’t a couple of county employees literate enough to edit for language clarity, then bring in some volunteers. There are plenty of competent residents in the county who would be willing do that – free!
Which commissioners are doing a second-rate job in posting public record e-mails?
Any e-mail sent to a commissioner at the county facility becomes a public record – including those with the boiler plate statement that the e-mail is a privileged private communication. To facilitate open and transparent government, the county provides website space for commissioners to post - in a timely fashion - the e-mails they received.
Some commissioners do an excellent job, keeping residents up to date. They include Commissioners Hayes and Heard. Ciampi is only one day late. However, two commissioners are laggards in posting e-mails: As of Dec. 4, Commissioner Valliere is almost three weeks behind, and Commissioner Smith is over two weeks late, which is not good constituent service. Get crackin’ guys!
+++++
For a free subscription to The Martin County Defender, send request with “Subscribe” in the subject line to: mcdefender@gmail.com
Comments and requests to unsubscribe may be sent to this same address.
Al
Al Forman, Editor 12/6/08
Sphere: Related Content
