State cost shifting must stop

Who will pay the price, you ask, as the governor and the Legislature struggle to balance the state budget in the face of continuing revenue shortfalls and questionable financial policies? You and I will at the local level. As this process unfolds, it is inevitable that there will be adverse effects on local programs that many county residents rely upon. Also, county residents may eventually have to pay higher local taxes because the state is shifting financial responsibilities to counties and reducing state revenue distributions to counties.

The Department of Juvenile Justice is just one area where we will be seeing these cost shifts. The governor's proposed budget would require counties to pay for the "pre-disposition" costs (the costs of housing and feeding juveniles) in state-run Department of Juvenile Justice Detention Centers. This $90 million cost shift would burden county property taxpayers for a large portion of the juvenile detention costs. Local taxpayers would be required to subsidize a state program over which they have no control and which is mired in controversy and inefficiency. For instance, a recent state study found that 40 percent of those held in the juvenile detention centers should not be incarcerated.

There is great disparity in how the centers are run, and there are questions as to whether the children who are there would be better served elsewhere. The department also has fallen under scrutiny for lax tracking of private companies that operate many DJJ programs.

This cost shift proposal would cost Manatee County property taxpayers $2.2 million annually, and there would be no improvement in services or additional benefit to the public from the higher local cost. This higher cost comes on top of more than $3 million in other revenue losses and cost shifts that Manatee County has absorbed over the past several years in connection with state budget cuts. By shifting the DJJ cost to counties, the governor saves enough money to offer a $90 million tax cut that is available only to wealthy investors who have more than $250,000 in investments.

Although most legislators may not be enthusiastic about shifting the DJJ costs, many concede that due to the state's severe financial problems, property taxpayers will likely be bearing a greater burden of the state's financial responsibilities. There are no prospects for significant improvement to the state's poor financial outlook due to an inadequate tax base that is heavily affected by growing e-commerce. This will mean higher property taxes in many counties. Property taxpayers will see no additional benefits or services provided as their taxes increase to pay for state government programs that the state can't pay for.

I see this as only the beginning with high-speed rail on the horizon for funding, increases in Medicaid costs to the state, as well as instituting the SIS (Strategic Intramodal System) which will shift dollars from local needs to regional projects. We at the local level will be overloaded with unfunded mandates to cover costs that our state tax dollars should be covering. Our view from within Manatee County government is that the state must act to solve state financial problems, and the state's financial burdens should not be shifted to local governments and local property taxpayers.