www.dadeinfo.com

The department of revenue web site is down for maintenance today. When it comes up I'll post a link to the millage rate history for the county.

Unless you've cut completly to the bone or make structural changes you will typically always have more expense in every department year over year because of inflation. This is simple economic supply and demand. I tried to make the argument that government should not increase faster than poplulation growth plus inflation.

This is where we will agree, and I DO UNDERSTAND! But I'm still not understanding that raising a Budget is not raising taxes. Now with "Growth" and re-vale of property you can cover some of the expense of raising the budget but bottom line when you have the taxpayers paying about 80% of Revenue where else is the money coming from?

I know you have been educated in financing, but for the most part of Dade County you have to keep it simple.

Just like today, we still are cutting the budget to the BONE is the Big speech we are hearing now. What about one looking for REVENUE other than "Fee Increases". But Dade County was way behind in this game before it even got started in most Counties in the whole United States. I really don't have a problem with Growth of Goverment when it is done right. But you have to lay out the plan so everone can understand even if they don't agree. I know that you can't please everone even if your plan had been tried and worked but at least look at other plans or come up with one on your own. I really think you (Ben) at least had a plan (though we might have disagreed) but you were willing to work at your plan (which caused some battles) that we don't have now because we really don't have any real planning going on...

I really don't have a problem with Growth of Goverment when it is done right. But you have to lay out the plan so everone can understand even if they don't agree. I know that you can't please everone even if your plan had been tried and worked but at least look at other plans or come up with one on your own.

Now go back and re-read this part of my post... Now back-flip to another topic since I'm on a ROLL.

This is where I had a problem with the New Assistant Judge being appointed and sworn in. Even though the law was passed what last year?, I am willing to bet that the letter just came (or we thought of it) in the recent weeks of getting this done. We failed to take the time to LOOK at the issue closley and see how it would be perceived by the taxpayers that were paying attention. Then when it was brought to attention that the LAW wasn't followed like it should have been, it became a BATTLE! It's still not over yet, I'm sure. What should happen (And it won't) is that we all strap on our "Big Boy Britches" and call it what it really was. An Honest Mistake, made by not taking the time to look at the issue and getting in a big hurry to get something done without thinking of what was going on. It don't matter who said what or who's email it was or who even re-leased the e-mail trying to cover their butt (wonder who that was), it just wasn't handled right. Why not say, I just screwed up and I understand the concern that some have about this position by knowing that there is a great deal of interest (not by me) about this position in the next election. I will in fact vote for the person that (I feel) is most deserving of the job (even if I have been wrong before). I personally think that timing of this whole issue is what I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH!

And I still feel that giving a title or adding to the position to the person even though they are already there is "Growing Goverment". But that's just me...

"I'm still not understanding that raising a Budget is not raising taxes."

Assume you have a family budget of $1,000 a year and income of $1,000 a year and you have $500 in savings. If you spend an additional $100 a year, your $1,000 income and $100 in savings for a total of $1,100, but your income (taxes) don't go up, how many years can you operate at the $1,100 figure before you have to get more revenue? Did the budget go up. Yes. Did your revenue (taxes) go up? No.

The first two years I was in office we operated off the county's savings, the fund balance, instead of raising the millage rate. By the 3rd year we couldn't do that another year but they didn't listen to me and not only did they go to the rollback rate but they took over the budget process as well. Again, we ran out of money EXACTLY (well, within two weeks) when I said we would nearly a year before. This is what happens when you let people who don't understand finance handle finance. I got so weary of trying to educate the Democrats, now Republicans, on the Commission that I just threw up my hands and let them run it. Now everybody is happy because nobody disagrees on anything.

But why would a family spend more money knowing that they would run out of savings in a couple of years? I know it's happened, that's what got us as a Country in such a mess, and me also. On a side note that I also know is that everone was wondering where the "Reserve" was being spent because I NEVER HEARD you say that it went to cover the over-budgeting for the running the County.The School System has been doing that the last two years and now are also OUT of "Reserve" and have to raise taxes. Yea, I know different Ballgame on a different feild of play. But you see the picture?

Unless you've cut completly to the bone or make structural changes you will typically always have more expense in every department year over year because of inflation. This is simple economic supply and demand. I tried to make the argument that government should not increase faster than poplulation growth plus inflation.


The "Growth" of the county would not cover the overage of the budget when we give the raises would it? Like I said, I'm all for giving raises to employees (not much giveing anywhere here in the crunch though) but you have to figure out where the money will come from and can't rely on just "Growth"!

I'm also all for cutting back but when a "Boiler" goes out and it's not in the budget and throws the County in a tailspin of where to get the funds is something I will never understand. That's why I would suggest a "Reserve" in the first place.

Here's a chart of the millage rate from 2004, the year I won the office to 2008, the year I left office. You can verify all these numbers here: https://etax.dor.ga.gov/ptd/cds/csheets/millrate.aspx

Entity/Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
County Uninc. 5.65 5.54 4.48 6.48 6.4
County Inc. 7.77 7.91 6.28 8.28 8.191
School 13.64 13 12.5 12.5 12.42
Trenton 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5
State 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
Development Auth. 0 0 0 0 0.353
Total 30.81 30.2 27.01 31.01 31.114

Some notes on the above:

The only years the commission took my millage rate suggestion was in the fall of 2005 for tax bills issued that fall. I knew we were going to to a county wide reval and that if we simply left the millage rate where it was the county would replenish the fund balance and with the growth in the digest many, if not most, people would get a lower tax bill than the year before at the same millage rate. Unfortunately Lamar's "not one penny more" campaign theme destroyed the plan. The 2006, 7, and 8 rates were calculated and set by the finance committee or based on the new Clerk's recommendation in December of 2006 which was determined by the budget he drafted. The rollback in 2006 was against my warning that if they did that we'd run out of money. Sure enough we did. Note the huge jump in 2007 to make up the shortfall I warned about and to fund the budget that Don and the finance committee set and that I voted against. If they had taken my recommendation to leave the rate at 5.54 the millage rate would have been flat, most people would have gotten a smaller tax bill AND the county would have had more money to cover inflation and re-fund the reserve/fund balance. So, did the millage rate go up while I was chairman? Yes, but totally against my advice and beyond my control.

One other thing I didn't notice till today. Note the millage rate dedicated to the industrial development authority for 2008. I don't remember voting on that.

Looks like formatting sucks when you copy in an excel spreasheet table. If anyone can tell me how to accomplish this I'll reload it.

"But why would a family spend more money knowing that they would run out of savings in a couple of years?"

Know anybody who's run up their credit cards???

"That's why I would suggest a "Reserve" in the first place."

I wrote the county's financial policies, which we didn't have before I took office, and in there I put in the requirement for a reserve but could never get it past the the budget process. It was always cut out to lower the budget instead of actually making some deparments that seemed to be off limits to cuts decrease their budget. There never was a "reserve" account because of this.