Pensacola City Councilman Sam Hall explains his vote against helping to fund ECAT on his blog. Hall objects to 1) ECAT’s performance with the money; 2) The tax does more to eliminate Escambia County’s general fund support than increasing ECAT’s budget; 3) He believes ECAT needs a new business plan; and 4) No measures of effectiveness to demonstrate its level of performance.
Here are the problems with Hall’s objections. In 2006, the City and County had an inter-local agreement where the City agreed to help fund ECAT for one year, if the County would develop a dedicated funding source for ECAT. It has taken three years to do it, but the County is finally doing just that. This vote should be a simple approval of what the City Council asked the County to do three years ago.
Last year, the County tried to swap ECAT for the library system with the City. The City Council told the County Commissioners that the County needs to run ECAT. However, it now appears that Councilman Hall wants ECAT to answer to the City. You can’t have it both ways.
The City Council has enough programs to manage without telling the County how to run ECAT. This appears to be more micro-managing.