Tax Watch Group Takes A Look At Escambia Spending
June 21, 2008
The Florida TaxWatch Center for Local Government Studies released the results of its analysis of Escambia County government, Improving Transparency and Accountability in Escambia County government, at a press conference in Pensacola Friday morning.
The study, which was requested and funded by a group of Escambia County citizens who were concerned about escalating property taxes and the need for fiscal responsibility and integrity, finds that revenue and spending increases since 2000 are “unsustainable.”
“As Florida taxpayers, we are facing the perfect storm – the unfortunate convergence of social, economic, and political factors that will capsize our economy with catastrophic results unless we do everything in our power to change course,” warned Dominic M. Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the nonpartisan, non-profit research institute and watchdog based in Tallahassee that conducted the study.
“This report focuses on the things that Escambia County government can change to avoid calamitous economic troubles in the future. Specifically, the report identifies five areas of government operation, over which the elected officials of Escambia County collectively have control, which should be improved.”
The report recommended that:
- The County should make a greater effort to control the growth of property taxes because recent revenue increases are unsustainable.
- The County should work to control costs because expenditures have grown significantly over the past five years, and in the current economic situation, Escambia County cannot expect to tax its way to prosperity.
- The County should maximize the use of resources by streamlining and being more careful about setting proper budget priorities. Specifically, the Board of County Commissioners and Constitutional Officers and/or their representatives need to establish a strategic and operational work plan for the County that can reduce duplication of effort and enhance the overall performance and effectiveness of County government.
- Better information is needed to support budget decision-making so the County should institute a system of performance measures to assist in setting and funding budget priorities that efficiently further the critical functions of government.
- The county should enhance communication with citizens by clearly stating the goals and accomplishments of the government in order to improve citizen understanding and trust.
This analysis was based upon (1) Escambia County’s historical spending practices and (2) a comparison of three comparable counties and the 67-county average for the State of Florida.
Among the specific factual findings of the report were that:
- Taxable property values doubled between fiscal years 2000 and 2007 with no decrease in millage rate. During this period the County’s property tax collections grew 92%, nearly five times greater than the combined growth in County population and inflation rates.
- Property tax revenues increased 27% in a single fiscal year (FY 2006 to FY 2007).
- The growth in expenditures per resident in Escambia County slightly exceeded the average for Florida’s 67 counties. Expenditures increased an average of 6.6% each year from FY 2001 – FY 2006, compared to 6.1% average annual increase for all counties.
- The total General Fund expenditures in FY 2007 (this past fiscal year) were nearly $25 million more than in FY2006, an increase of 18% in a single fiscal year.
- The County’s millage rate was higher than the “all county” average (i.e., the average (mean) of all of Florida’s 67 counties) and the three comparable counties.
- • Over 60 percent of the General Fund expenditures are made by the five Constitutional Officers (as opposed to the Board of County Commissioners).
To read the entire Florida TaxWatch report on Escambia County, click here (pdf format, 2 Mb)
Pictured above: A graphical look at how the tax revenue per person is spent in Escambia County.
Three McDavid Boys On The Road To Disney In 14U Baseball
June 21, 2008
The Pensacola Tigers 14U AAA baseball team won The ASP Super NIT Road To Disney tournament this past weekend in East Milton.
The team finished the weekend with a 7 to 0 victory over the Ascension Braves from Gonzales, Lousiana, to win the championship game on Sunday afternoon.
Three of the players — Brandon Harigel, Dak Sims and Dabney Langhorne are from McDavid.
Pictured below are the team members (front, L-R) Brandon Harigel (McDavid ), L.D. Black, J.B. Bennett, Keylon Smith, Richard Gionnatti, Taylor Nunnelle. L-R back row: Jimmy Threat, Robert Bass, Tyler Brown, Dabney Langhorne (McDavid) and Dak Sims (McDavid ). Coaches (back L-R) were Mike Bennett , Sean Harigel and Greg Sims. Not pictured Blake Norwood , Tanner Black and Coach Daniel Norwood. Submitted photo.
School District Updates Ernest Ward School Times; Other Schools Changing
June 20, 2008
Ernest Ward Middle School’s start and release times will not drastically change as first announced Wednesday by the Escambia County School District.
For the next school year, Ernest Ward will start at 8:30 a.m. and dismiss at 3:10 p.m., according to Shawn Dennis, assistant superintendent for operations.
“That’s just 10 minutes later to start and five minutes later to get out,” Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry said.
The school district had announced late Wednesday, and NorthEscambia.com reported on Thursday, that Ernest Ward’s day would be 9:30 to 4:30 like most other middle schools in the district. After the news release was issued by the school district, NorthEscambia.com confirmed the times with Ronnie Arnold, district spokesperson.
But Dennis said the schedule has since been updated to reflect the correct 8:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. school day for Ernest Ward.
Gindl-Perry said she would be placing automated phone calls to Ernest Ward parents informing them of the change, but those phone calls would not go to parents of incoming sixth graders unless they had another child in the school.
New school start and dismissal times will also apply for Bratt Elementary School, Carver/Century K-8 School and Molino Park Elementary School.
Bratt and Molino Park will start at 7:30 a.m. and release at 2:00 p.m. The earliest drop off time for both schools will be 7:05.
At Carver/Century, the only combined middle and elementary school in the county, the start time will be 9:00 with dismissal at 3:30. The earliest drop off time at Carver/Century will be 8:35.
Northview High School will not follow the 8:30-3:45 schedule of the other high schools in the county. Northview’s day will begin at 7:40 with release at 2:45. The earliest drop off time for Northview students will be 7:25.
The district expects changes in bus routes to accommodate the new school times to save about $1 million and take 30 buses off the roads. The change also adds 30 more minutes of instructional time at the elementary level.
For the rest of the county:
- Elementary schools will start at 7:30 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.
- High schools will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:35 p.m.
- Middle schools will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 4:35 p.m.
NorthEscambia.com graphic.
Deputy Involved In Two Vehicle Crash In Bratt
June 20, 2008
An Escambia County deputy was involved in a two vehicle accident about noon Thursday in Bratt.
Deputy David Ingram, 36, was responding to a call at Wiggins Lake in Walnut Hill where two children where reported to be missing or possibly drowned. Witnesses say he was westbound on Highway 4 near the intersection of North Highway 99 with his emergency lights activated at what witnesses described as a high rate of speed. He attempted to pass a 1986 Mazada pickup truck driven by Alan Lee, 17 of Molino.
The Florida Highway Patrol report on the incident indicated that the patrol car’s emergency lights were activated, but the report does not indicate Ingram’s speed.
Lee told NorthEscambia.com that he was turning into the back parking lot of Cooper’s Store when he was sideswiped by the patrol car. The patrol car then hit a power pole in the store’s parking lot where it sustained major damage.
“He didn’t have his siren on,” Lee said. “If he’d had his siren on, I would would have heard him passing me.”
Ingram was transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. He was complaining of injuries from the patrol car’s airbag and from a laptop computer that had come loose from its mount and struck him in the head. The cruiser’s windshield was cracked where it was apparently hit by the laptop. His injuries were not believed to be severe.
Lee was uninjured in the accident and refused medical treatment. Both Ingram and Lee were wearing their seat belts according the FHP report.
Escambia River Electric Cooperative was forced to replace the power pole because the pole split several feet off the ground from the force of the impact.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The FHP says charges are pending. The Sheriff’s Department Crime Scene Unit was also called to the scene.
The two children that were reported to be missing or possibly drowned were located unharmed at a relative’s home before deputies arrived. It had been reported that two girls, ages nine and 10, had left a home on Wiggins Lake wearing their swimsuits and wrapped in towels. When they did not return home, they were reported missing by a relative that had found their towels near the lake.
For more photos from the accident, click here.
Pictures above: Deputy David Ingram’s patrol car. Pictured below: The patrol car and Lee’s pickup. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Grants Will Widen Highway 4, Molino Road, Crabtree Church Road, Jahaza Street and Fairground Road
June 20, 2008
If funding is approved by the state, Highway 4, Molino Road, Crabtree Church Road, Jahaza Street, and Fairground Road will be getting five foot wide paved shoulders.
The Escambia County Commission approved resolutions at their Thursday night meeting to apply for grants totalling $6.1 million from the Florida Department of Transportation for the paved shoulders.
If funding is approved by the state, the paved shoulders, five feet wide on each side, would be added to:
- Crabtree Church Road from Highway 97 to Sunshine Hill Road
- Molino Road, Jahaza Street and Fairground Road from Highway 29 to Molino Fairground Park
- Highway 4 from Highway 29 in Century west to Highway 97 in Davisville
- Highway 4 from Highway 29 in Century east to the Santa Rosa County line
According to the resolutions approved by the commission, the five foot wide shoulders would provide a safety buffer and an area for increased bicycle traffic. Don Sutton Ballpark is located on Crabtree Church Road. Molino Road, Jahaza Street and Fairground Road all lead to the Molino Fairground Park.
“Traffic congestion, traffic crashes and pollution of the environment all stand to be reduced through a decrease in the dependence on motor vehicles,” the resolutions read. “Escambia County is attempting to alleviate the burgeoning demand created by motor vehicles on the roadway system.”
If the grants are awarded, the funds would be paid to Escambia County to begin the projects in the first quarter of 2009.
The Highway 4 portion of the project is about 15 miles total, and it would receive $4.4 million. The Crabtree Church Road portion of the project is about 2.5 miles and would receive $750,000. The Molino Road to Fairground Park portion of the project is about three miles and would receive $950,000.
Pictured above: Highway 4 west of Byrneville. NorthEscambia.com photo.
County Settles Roads Inc. Lawsuit Over Nine Acre Catfish Pond
June 20, 2008
The Escambia County Commission quickly and quietly approved a settlement in a lawsuit with contractor Roads, Inc. Of Northwest Florida of a catfish pond that has been years in the making.
Roads, Inc. sued the county after the county pulled the project’s storm water permit in February, effectively putting an end to the project in the Cantonment area.
Under the settlement, Roads, Inc. will have six months to finish the project they say will be a catfish pond. Dump trucks and other equipment will be allowed to enter and exit the property only two days during week from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
The stormwater permit indicates that the catfish pond will be nine acres in size.
The commission approved the settlement on the recommendation of County Attorney Alison Rogers 5-0 with no discussion at their Thursday night meeting.
J.R. Spears Memorial Golf Tournament Saturday
June 20, 2008
The Second Annual CPL J.R. Spears Memorial Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament will he held Saturday at the Solutia Golf Club.
CPL Spears of Molino was killed in action in Iraq on October 23, 2005.
Spears graduated in 2002 from Tate High School, where he played on the Aggie’s offensive line. He made the Dean’s List and lost 80 pounds during a year at Pensacola Junior College before enlisting in the Marine Corps as an EMT.
He was killed by sniper fire while serving with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment out of 29 Palms, California, near Al-Ramadi, Iraq.
His parents, Tim and Marie Spears, are holding the golf tournament to raise money for the scholarship in their son’s honor. The entry fee for the two person team scramble is $65 per non-member and $45 for Solution Golf Club members. The top three teams will go home with trophies. A hole in one on a predetermined hole will win a 2008 Ford F150 pickup from World Ford.
“Corporal J,.R. Spears died in Iraq doing what he loved and believed in while serving his country as a proud Marine. J.R. felt it an honor to serve his his country and to serve with other proud Marines,” his parents wrote on the golf tournament flyer.
“‘In letters he wrote home, J.R. related that he wished all Americans could witness the many successes and accomplishments being achieved in Iraq by his unit and his Marines. While acutely aware of the dangers he faced daily, J.R.’s patriotism never faltered and his selflessness remained evident,” his parents said.
“Shortly before his death, J.R. told his parents that if a Marine in his unit had to die, he would rather be him than a fellow Marine who had a wife and children back home,” The Spears wrote.
For more information, email CplJRSpears@aol.com.
End Of Era At Cooper’s Store In Bratt As Gas Pumps Are Removed
June 20, 2008
It was the end of an era Thursday at Cooper’s Store in Bratt as the store’s gas pumps and tanks were removed.
When Lawrence Cooper purchased the store 52 years ago, gas was selling for 10 cents per gallon, his son Marion Cooper told NorthEscambia.com Thursday. Now, even though gas in selling for around $4 a gallon, the profit per gallon for the store was still only about 10 cents per gallon.
He said the state mandated that the aging underground storage tanks had to be dug up. He said replacing the tanks would have cost about $30,000 to $40,000…more than the store would profit by selling gas.
Cooper said the store was recently averaging about 500 to 600 gallons of gas sold per week. “We just don’t sell enough to justify replacing the tanks,” he said.
He predicted that more and more small stores like Cooper’s would be getting out of the gas business in the coming years due to the expense of meeting strict state regulations. He said that regulations are tough and expensive on small stores, pointing out that a state inspector was outside the store supervising the tank removal.
“The independents will be gone in a few years, and the big companies will control the gas market,” Cooper said.
Pictured above: The gas tanks and pumps have been removed at Cooper’s Store in Bratt. Pictured below: A state inspector outside the store tracks the progress of the tank removal project Thursday afternoon on his laptop. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
FHP Releases Names Of Six Teens In Early Tuesday Crash; Charges Filed
June 19, 2008
The Florida Highway Patrol has released the names of six people in a one vehicle accident on Highway 4 between Bratt and Bryneville just before 2:00 Tuesday morning. Two were taken to area hospitals.
The FHP says the 1999 GMC pickup truck was driven by Michael P. Trentman, 17, of Walnut Hill. Passengers were Joshua D. Nix, 17, of Century; Anthony Trentman, 15, of Walnut Hill; Brittany Brown, 17, of Century; Colton Brown, age unknown, of Century; and Talisa Presley, 16 of Century.
Talisa Presley was transported by LifeFlight to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola where her injuries were classified as minor. Colton Brown was transported by ambulance to Jay Hospital where his injuries were listed as minor. The four other teens were not injured.
The accident happened on Highway 4 near the Canoe Creek bridge, about two miles west of Byrneville.
Their westbound pickup truck veered off the right side of the highway where Trentman overcorrected and ran off the other side of the road, where the truck overturned when it struck a culvert just past the bridge. All six exited the vehicle and walked about 200 feet west to the nearest residence.
Trentman was charged with Failure to Use Due Care and Curfew Violation. Florida’s curfew law states that a driver 17 or under must be accompanied by a licensed adult 21 or older between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
All six were wearing their seat belts and alcohol was not a factor in the accident, according to the FHP.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department and the Century Volunteer Fire Department both responded to the early morning call.
Pictured above and below: Six teens were in this pickup truck that overturned early Tuesday morning on Highway 4 near Canoe Creek. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Century To Accept $282,000 Offer From Dept. Of Corrections & Not Sue
June 19, 2008
Rather than going to court, Century will settle a billing dispute with the Florida Department of Corrections for about $282,000, far less than the $569,000 they had originally hoped to receive.
“The dispute had one feel in the beginning, but now it has a different appearance,” Matt Dannheisser, the town’s attorney, told the council at a special meeting Wednesday.
Town Accountant Robert Hudson had reported to the council that the DOC owed about $569,000 in back payments. But that amount included $127,000 in interest that Dannheisser said the DOC was not willing to pay.
The dispute stemmed from billing practices that dated back to 2000. Under the town’s agreement with the DOC and Century Correctional Institute, the prison was to pay for natural gas at the rate of 120 percent of the town’s actual cost. The town’s billing system would generate a bill at the normal rate, then town employees would re-rate the bill and send a new bill about 10 days later at the 120 percent rate. That adjustment was originally done twice a year based upon the rate from nine months earlier.
But in 2000, there was spike in natural gas prices, Dannheisser said, and the town went back to the DOC that agreed to pay 100 percent of the town’s cost on a monthly basis. But they did not agree to pay the 20 percent profit margin until a new agreement was reached.
The first problem, Dannheisser said, was that there was no proof that the town ever mailed the adjusted bills to the DOC. “If we did not seek that adjustment, we’re sunk,” he said.
He said the state is allowed to pay interest on bills more than 40 days late, but only if the billing party can prove they actually sent a correct invoice.
“We have not been able to locate the corrected invoices for the Department of Corrections,” he said.
And more problems with the town’s natural gas bills for the DOC were also found.
“We discovered two anomalies going through this event,” he said. One was an over-billing of $105,000, and the other were two missing payments.
“There are two payments we can’t find,” Dannheisser said. “The department says they paid them…we simply can’t find them.”
Those payments, once for $37,400 and one for $46,100, total $78,500.
“I’ve called for copies of the checks,” Dannheisser said. He said the DOC had located a copy of one, but he had yet to see it.
When the $78,500 in missing payments and the $105,000 in over-billings are subtracted, that left the DOC owing the town $282,087.
Dannheisser recommend that the council accept the $282,087 from the Department of Corrections rather than taking DOC to court. “I would suggest that you approved taking the settlement,” he said. “They are now paying what we billed them.”
The council voted 4-0 on Nadine McCaw’s motion to accept the $282,087, with council member Henry Hawkins not present for the meeting. The amount is contingent upon the DOC proving they made the $78,500 in payments they say they have made. If not, that amount will be added to the total settlement.
While investigating the natural gas billing issue with the Department of Corrections, Dannheisser said he discovered that Century Correctional Institure was being billed $20,400 per month for water service under a 1996 contract.
The contract had a contingency clause to raise the rate based upon the Consumer Price Index, which has gone up 36.1 percent since 1996. Based upon Dannheisser’s findings, Century Mayor Freddie McCall recommended that the prison’s base water bill be raised by the 36.1 percent, or about $7,400 per month. A motion to that effect was approved.
There were no members of the general public at Wednesday’s meeting. It was attended by the council, the attorney, a consultant and two town employees. NorthEscambia.com was the only media at the meeting.