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Politics & Government

Some Commissioners' Budget Wishes Conflict

Eliminating user fees at county parks lacks enough support from commissioners, but others are after more money for other causes.

Facing a budget with millions less to spend, some Pasco County commissioners are seeking to carve enough money to eliminate park user fees, keep swimming pools open and increase services for veterans.

But not all commissioners are pushing for the same goals in the budget for 2011-12.

Commissioners Henry Wilson and Jack Mariano sought support for eliminating fees at county parks during a workshop session Tuesday.

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Since 2008, commissioners have chopped 38 percent from the parks budget and 26 percent from libraries, Mariano said.

Fees imposed on people using parks aren’t working, he told commissioners.

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“They’re not paying off,” Mariano said.

Fees range from parking to charging each person in a league using the parks.

Wilson also expressed his displeasure with the fees.

Mariano wanted the charges eliminated for county residents, saying their tax money already paid for parks and more would use the facilities.

“To me, there’s nothing better than having kids out there playing sports,” he said.

But their effort lacked support from other commissioners, said Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand.

And Pasco is not alone in charging for use of its parks.

“All the counties around us are charging fees,” she said.

Commissioner Pat Mulieri asked where the money would come from to offset eliminating the fees.

Mulieri, though, wants more money in the budget for veterans’ services, especially in the Land O’ Lakes area. The county has 53,000 veterans, she said.

The county offers services to veterans two days a week, and Mulieri would like to expand that to four days.

Mariano supported helping veterans. Increased benefits veterans receive bring money into the county, he said.

Cutting park fees also would have to balance against wishes from Mulieri and other commissioners trying to keep county pools open in Land O’ Lakes and Hudson.

A pending agreement with the Land O’ Lakes Lightning Swim Team could defray all but about $41,000 of the cost to keep the Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex pool open. User fees could lower that amount.

There is no similar deal for the Veteran’s Memorial Park pool in Hudson and the county would have to find more money to keep it running.

That would have to come from a budget that’s generating $3.3 million less in property tax revenue than last year.

But commissioners learned the budget that begins Oct. 1 will have about $1.7 million more than the county administration believed when first presenting the spending plan in July.

Most of the money came from more accurate estimates of what other elected officials would return to the county at the end of the current budget on Sept. 30.

But the constitutional officials such as sheriff and tax collector will return 44 percent less money to the county this year than when property tax revenue hit its peak in 2008.

County Administrator John Gallagher said he would bring commissioners details about cutting park fees and adding services for veterans.

Commissioners will consider a millage of 6.36 mills for its main operating fund and 1.42 mills for the Municipal Fire Service Taxing Unit. That is the same as the current budget.

That would bring the total of those two major funds for most households in unincorporated Pasco to 7.68 mills. Schools, cities and the Southwest Florida Water Management District all can add millage to the tax bill.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value after any exemptions are removed.

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