More Sausage

Faced with a nearly $10 million budget shortfall, Escambia County commissioners again  discussed possible solutions during this morning’s commission workshop.

“Nobody wants us to cut any services, nobody wants us to raise taxes, nobody wants us to try anything new—which puts us in a strange position,” said Commissioner Grover Robinson.

Last week, board members referred to this public hash-out of the county budget as “making sausage.” Robinson picked up that same conversation early on in this morning’s meeting.

“There’s going to be challenges we’re going to have to deal with,” he said. “It requires us to be open minded.”

Last week, a capacity crowd in the chamber convinced commissioners not to make up part of the shortfall by cutting its $3.7 million contribution to the West Florida Public Library System. The issue blossomed into a broader discussion about where the county would make the needed cuts.

Robinson said he would discuss his idea further during tonights commission meeting. The commissioner said his solution would require the county to “grow our way out” of the shortfall. Later, he formalized a suggestion of a sales tax.

“I’m just saying,” he told the board, “a quarter-point sales tax would be a whole lot more palatable.”

Other commissioners have suggested a .5 millage raise. Commissioner Marie Young said the discussions would be better had during June budget workshops.

Much of the county’s budget shortfall is attributable to a new state law requiring counties to back-pay more than a decade’s worth of Medicaid costs to the state. To that end, the Commission also discussed signing onto a multi-county lawsuit against the state over the matter; the board will make a formal decision on the lawsuit during this afternoon’s meeting, held at 5:30 p.m. at the county’s downtown complex.