Making Sausage in the Library

Faced with a nearly $10 million budget shortfall, Escambia County commissioners today considered pulling funding—totaling $3.7 million—from the West Florida Library System. A few hundred library supporters dressed in red attending this morning’s commission workshop persuaded them to search out the cuts elsewhere.

“Folks, y’all are getting to see us make some sausage here today,” Commission Chairman Wilson Robertson told the gallery as the board began exploring other possibilities to make up some of the budget shortfall.

A recently enacted state law requires counties to pay more than a decade’s worth of Medicaid costs—going back to 2001—that the state asserts the municipalities owe. Escambia County Administrator Randy Oliver had identified cutting the county’s funding of the library system as one possible remedy.

Escambia County’s contribution makes up more than 70 percent of the library system’s total funding. The remainder—under $2 million—is made up by the city of Pensacola.

“Folks, this is a dilemma we had no asking for,” Wilson told the crowd at this morning’s meeting. “It hit us all of the sudden.”

All five commissioners said they had received overwhelming feedback from the public on the issue of library funding. Wilson said that Oliver should not have stated that the commissioners—who had yet to discuss the matter—would be pulling the funding.

“I think we jumped the gun, personally,” Wilson said. “—I’m not trying to throw Randy under the bus.”

Just as the red-wearing audience was upset with the commission, the commissioners were equally angered by their own position in the equation.

Commissioner Kevin White said that state officials had placed local governments in a difficult position: “like Solomon deciding how to split the baby.”

“I find it amazing how these jackasses from Tallahassee can use local governments to balance their budgets,” White said. “It just blows my mind.”

White said that cutting library funding—or any other cuts—would only be “Band-aid” fixes. He said the county had already made cuts and that it was now time to increase revenue by raising the millage rate by a half mil; White mentioned that he was not seeking reelection and thus could make such a suggestion.

“Any other vote would be cutting this board’s throat,” the commissioner said. “You’ll cut your own throat with the next budget.”

Commissioner Marie Young said that she was “not afraid to bite the bullet” and agreed with White’s millage notion. This evoked an audible applause from the over-flow crowd having to watch the proceedings on a television in the lobby.

“I thought I’d get a bigger clap than that,” Young said, prompting the entire gallery to give her an ovation.

A mil is equal to $1 for every $1000 of a property’s taxable value. The increase would only affect homeowners.

“Five-tenths of a mil would solve all of our problems,” Young told her fellow commissioners, questioning the no-new-taxes-no-matter-what mentality. “What’s the big deal about raising taxes? That’s not a big deal—ohhh, somebody’s going to take that and run with it.”

Commissioner Young wanted to know what a .5 increase in the millage rate would mean for homeowners.

“About $4 a month,” White told her.

“For about 40 percent it’d be zero,” Wilson added, accounting for the fact that homestead exemptions would cancel out some properties.

Young urged the board to simply vote to increase the millage rate and be done with it. The millage could also be increased by putting in to the voters via a referendum.

“Taxes is like death—you know the rest it: it’s going to be here for the rest of our lives,” she told them. “You don’t want to call it a tax? Let’s call it a millage increase, make it sound pretty.”

Noting a bit of irony, Commissioner Grover Robinson said that since hitting counties with  the Medicaid bill the state of Florida is now able to report a budget surplus of $72 million.

“That $72 million is exactly equal to the amount that is being asked to be paid back,” he said.

Robinson urged the board to join with other counties and fight the state on the Medicaid issue. He also asked people in the audience to contact their representatives and let them know how they felt.

“If this board acts alone that will send no message to Tallahassee and make things worse the following year,” Robinson said.

Commissioner Gene Valentino said the county should not be looking at the libraries for cuts, but rather at various existing programs. He also took the opportunity to lobby for a gas tax to pay for public transportation (thus freeing up funds currently used for that purpose).

“I don’t appreciate being blind-sided by a half-baked solution to balance the budget on the backs of the library,” Valentino said, arguing that county staff should better “scrub” the overall budget in an effort to find areas to save— “if they’re not going to micromanage, I will.”

White responded that he had “scrubbed” the budget himself and found nowhere else to cut. He told his fellow commissioners that they could do the “political two-step” but would need to eventually increase revenue. He requested that if they did not do so, that the board members themselves be forced to decide which county employees will lose their jobs.

“Where I can see this going,” White said, “people are going on the street.”

The county administrator told the board that the library-option should not be dismissed. He said budget discussions could circle back around to the contentious territory.
“I’m going to be candid with you,” Oliver said. “You can’t responsibly take anything off the table. You can’t physically take it off the table.”

At this point, West Florida Library System Board of Trustees President Bette Hooten needed some clarification. She wasn’t sure if the library system was in the clear.

“I’ve got one question,” Hooten asked the board. “Have I got something to take to my people?”

After commissioners exchanged glances among themselves, Chairman Robertson told her that they had not “ever dreamed of cutting funding” to the library.

“We are not going to do a massive cut,” the Chairman assured her.

Afterwards, Hooten said she felt a little more positive about the library system’s outlook.

“I would say 25 percent more—slightly,” she said. “I feel like I have a few more people on my side, and that makes me feel better.”