Yesterday the Palm Beach County Taxpayer Action Board announced their synopsis of the budget hearing process and their influence on the process.
TAB is a coalition of small government groups and individuals interested in making a tangible difference in Palm Beach County government and is made up of Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and independents.
This from their synopsis:
We at TAB are not surprised at the outcome, having discussed it with individual commissioners over the last week:
- Commissioner Marcus told us she was pursuing additional cuts of up to $10M, including some from the Sheriff, but did no more than mention it in passing at the hearing.
- Commissioner Abrams explained to us that while he would like to see the deeper TAB cuts implemented, the votes were not there for it and smaller cuts were not worth the pain they would cause.
- Commissioner Santamaria thought some token cuts would be good but did not support anything substantive.
- Commissioner Taylor would not even consider a cut that resulted in a single employee layoff.
- Commissioner Vana is all for reviewing programs next year (she is calling for “contingency audits”), but would also draw the line at layoffs and is vehemently opposed to outsourcing.
- We did not speak with commissioner Aaronson – what would be the point? He made it clear that he thinks the 2.5% TAB cuts would “destroy the county”.
TAB is learning the ropes in how county commissioners operate and will be better prepared in 2011 for the 2012 budget workshops and expects to make a serious dent for taxpayers next year.
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