For more than a decade now, I believe the Board of County Commissioners of Desoto County has made a series of far reaching decisions without weighing the consequences of those decisions. We are feeling the ripple effect and negative financial impact of those decisions today through sustained higher property taxes; with no property tax relief in site. The only budgets cuts made thus far have been forced upon them by the bad economy and not through the deliberate downsizing of government.

Thanks, Ed Johnson

There is an old English Proverb which says, “Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves “ in our case it’s “Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”. I have told you of the large dollar waste, now I’ll show some of the “pennies” being wasted. I have often told people that you can sink a Battleship with an ice pick, just punch enough holes in it and eventually it will take on more water than the bilge pumps can expel. You don’t need a torpedo or a cruise missile, just something as small as an ice pick. Small, seemingly insignificant, expenditures can soon amount to a large amount of mismanaged and lost money. Shortly, you will receive a formal notice to pay your Ad Valorem taxes for the coming year. The economy is not doing well and may do worse, a lot worse than anyone wants to believe or admit. With that in mind, you may want to know how careful the Board of County Commissioners has been with the spending of your hard earned tax dollars. You know you have no alternative but to pay your taxes or lose your property; it’s your money or your house (you feel like you have been mugged). You would hope they have been very careful and diligent with the spending every penny; with every purchase being essential; with no trivial or frivolous purchases to be found. But alas, such is not the case.

Gifts to Charitable Organizations,

in past years has been enormous. The cost noted from Budget year 2005-2006 through Budget Year 2009-2010 is $785,132. A portion went to defer costs at the two Health Departments, but much of it went to “Charities” over which you have little or no control. The Board of County Commissioners has no moral right to over collect taxes from us and then distribute them to “charities”, some of which you might not choose to contribute to yourself. As well intentioned as it might have been, I believe it was wrong. Some of those organizations may spend more on themselves than the services they render; and some may be duplicated services.We need to choose the charity of our choice, not have it done for us through mandatory property taxes.

Publications, Dues, Training and Subscriptions

were listed in this Year’s Budget at nearly $35,000. This is unrealistic in the present day economy. I brought this to their attention in a Public Hearing and no action was taken. This appears to be more of a “fluff” item than a real need. The New Offices that were so essential several years ago are often unoccupied. For over a hundred and twenty-five years there were no individual offices for each commissioner; not even a shared office. They came regularly, sometimes daily; they got their messages, mail, and agenda packets and met with the administrator as needed. No individual offices were needed, after all, the people they served rarely had time to come to the Courthouse or Administration Building, and the commissioners went to them and looked at the problem first hand. The original cost for these offices was estimated at $18,000 to $20,000, money that could have been used more wisely elsewhere or even deleted from the budget and your taxes reduced. Part time workers don’t need full time offices.

 is purchased weekly in the local shopping guide. It costs $2,600 annually for the full page add; and probably an equal amount of tax dollars in county staff time for the layout and prep work; a cost in excess of $5,200 a year. On a number of occasions, this has been little more than free political advertising for a commissioner. Why are we doing this? We know they didn’t carry the lumber or drive the nails that built the bridge. It was a free “photo op”, paid for at your expense; an unwarranted and a non essential expenditure. This expenditure does not appear to be equally shared with the local newspaper.

Cell phones

were issued to all the commissioners; this practice started several years ago under a former administrator, now long gone with a fat severance package. It would seem like a necessity in the time in which we live. But is it really? Rarely are there times that a commissioner cannot be reached through his own private cell phone, business or home phone. It does not make them more accessible to the general public; only a selected few know their number; another non essential expenditure. If a cell phone cost $50 a month per commissioner, for five commissioners for four years is $12,000, too much for part time work.

The Laptop Computers

used by the commissioners during the meetings is a practice started several years ago under a former administrator. He is now long gone with a fat severance package. These serve no real purpose outside of the meeting room; and some commissioners may be “computer challenged”. They were unwarranted expenditures by a Santa Claus administrator, but approved by the commissioners.

The Out-of-Town Trips

to places like Hawaii, Arizona, Washington, DC and who knows where else, were of no real value to the taxpayers of Desoto County. To travel to Washington DC to see a local US Representative who has an office in Sarasota hardly seems worth the time and expense. A phone call to set up a meeting 50 miles away would have been a lot more time efficient and a lot less expensive. I doubt if we will ever know the extent of cost of these trips. All of these were non essential expenditures.

of the county, with each commissioner’s photo implanted within his district, and each district a different color were expensive and unnecessary; another non essential expenditure.

and frames which hang in the Administration Building, the old Courthouse, and other buildings are unnecessary. With each change of commissioners we incur more unnecessary cost for these items. These are an unwarranted and a non essential expenditure.

in some cases provided to commissioners, bearing the county logo are also unnecessary to the operation of the county. I have been told some commissioners purchased the shirts but that could not be said for all. They are paid nearly $50,000 a year in salary and benefits annually; there is no need to provide shirts to them as well. These are an unwarranted and a non essential expenditure. Folks, these are small items as far as dollars go, but they represent a pattern, an attitude toward the hard earned money you pay in taxes every year. It’s just not fair to you to force you to give up your money or lose your property and then spend it on themselves or these other frivolous and trivial items. When I learned of these things I was greatly disappointed in them. The money is spent, it is gone forever and you have received nothing in return. It won’t change unless you change commissioners, starting now. The “mind set” of the board appears to be “that there is no amount of money too small that cannot be wasted”.

started in Budget Year 2006-07. The Ad Valorem taxes in 2005-06 were $9,055,966. They jumped 27.34% to $12,463,851 in 2006-07; and continued at the escalated level in 2007-08, $12,314,019; 2008-08-9, $11,646,744; 2009-10, $11,531,510. Due to the heavily depressed current economy, the 2010-11 Ad Valorem tax was finally approved at $9,850,931. According to statistical data, the adjusted inflation rate from October 2006 through September 2010 was 9.66 %; therefore the 2005-06 Ad Valorem Tax, adjusted for inflation should have been at or about the same level as the 2010-11 approved Ad Valorem tax. But what happened to the millions of extra tax dollars that were over collected from 2007 through 2010? Adjusted for inflation, it amounts to over $10,600,000; that’s more than an entire tax year of Ad Valorem Taxes that were over collected during that four year period. Where is the money now? What was done with it? Why are we in the mess we are in today? We were over taxed, gouged, abused and put upon by the commissioners. Every taxpayer ought to be absolutely outraged; it’s time for the “tar and feathers” or maybe horse manure and cow pies are more appropriate.

are a pair of angry 800 pound gorillas waiting to vault out of the closet and pounce on taxpayers. This is a very serious issue. The county is the defendant in numerous lawsuits (more than a half dozen). One claims $1,498,241 in damages plus interest and attorney’s fees. If it is lost it could exceed $2,000,000 in cost to us. I believe this lawsuit could have been prevented, if the commissioners had paid close attention to details; but they didn’t. They either ignored or were oblivious to what was happening under their nose; neither is acceptable in managing our tax dollars. A second lawsuit claims inverse condemnation of an owner’s land; and alleges a loss of $20,000,000 in gross profits. I believe this lawsuit could have been prevented, if they had paid close attention to details. The commissioners apparently could not discern “competent substantial evidence” from hearsay or inadmissible opinions, even after being warned by a judicial order. A loss of either of these lawsuits would be catastrophic to the county taxpayers. It could mean a substantial rise in Ad Valorem taxes or a special Ad Valorem tax assessment to pay for the losses. The inverse condemnation claim is not covered by the county’s liability insurance; taxpayers will pay for the legal fees; and maybe the damages. The inexperience in making decisions on the management of complex business details has placed us at an extreme risk. In the mean time, we will be doling out hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars to out of town lawyers, little or none of which will be returned to our local economy.

they hire an administrator who is accountable to them (and to us); but government does not run on autopilot. The commissioners must know what is going on all the time; there is absolutely no excuse for being in the dark or uninformed on any issue at any time. The nearly $50,000 in salary and benefits paid to them annually for part time work, more than exceeds the “median household income” of $37,478 (latest Census data 2008). They are paid to do the job; we must hold them accountable when they fail. A number of years ago, I discovered that “Attitudes will eventually manifest themselves in behavior”. You can determine their attitude towards you by the way they spend your tax dollars. If you didn’t read A Decade of Bad Decisions, Part 1 in The Arcadian, please locate a copy and read it or re-read it. We just can’t afford to let the commissioners keep wasting our tax money. It’s just not fair, especially in these hard and most uncertain economic times! It’s your hard earned money; at the very least you have a right to have it managed and spent carefully, not wasted on frivolous and trivial expenditures; or through incompetent decisions. If you don’t make a change now, it will continue in the same path as before, resulting in more wasted tax dollars. It will not change, unless you and I change it; it’s up to us. Bad decisions typically stem from bad judgment. In private industry you are fired if you do a bad job. It’s time to hold them accountable; enough is enough. These are hard words, but they have to be said.

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