Wednesday, January 5, 2011

BUDGET QUESTION OF THE MONTH: January 2011

With 2011 under way, what should Hillsborough County focus most on?

25 comments:

  1. Because unemployment is a major local problem Hillsborough County should avoid making further budget cuts that would result in more workers losing their jobs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sustainability, through means by which the community has the opportunity to become part of projects that create green space, preserve and conserve new green space, educate, beautify and cultivate neighborhood pride, support inclusivity and intergenerational relationships.

    Include community gardens in a green initiative to make Tampa and Hillsborough county sustainable, livable and environmentally sound.

    An initiative like this can be done by the residents of this county, with limited support from County Government.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hillsborough County should have 24 hours bus it will batter for all. My name is Arizona Jenkins from Tampa FL.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stronger enforcement of disabled parking laws.

    ReplyDelete
  5. They should definitely focus on the number of managers to low level employees county wide. All of the excess management is costing the county a lot of money. There are departments that have managers with only 3 people under them. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think the county should be looking into grants for extra funding. There are grants available that are not being applied for. This is a no brainer. It's free money!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think if the county is going to freeze all employee's salaries regardless of their extra duties, then that should go for ALL Hillsborough County employees. Why are some employees getting promoted with raises (and some of those people receiving more than one promotion since this all started) and everyone else is supposed to do any extra work they are asked to do without compensation because these are difficult times for the county. What makes them so special?

    ReplyDelete
  8. To make it easier for us to reply to specific posts, why not use some sort of name instead of the generic "Anonymous."

    ReplyDelete
  9. Arizona Jenkins, thanks for your post. Your comment is specific to HART - Hillsborough Area Regional Transit. We have forwarded your comment on to them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. there is so much wrong with Hillsborough County that it is hard to decide where to begin. Better bus service: more buses/less waiting and more routes. Collect the money owed to the county by developers for their impact fees. Go solar on county buildings. Don't bus the homeless out to the county. Leave them in downtown to show the Republicans what their policies are doing to people.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous - have forwareded your bus comment on to HART; we have done 3 major solar projects on county buildings - Courthouse, Tax Collector and All Peoples Life Center. Click these interactive links to see the running savings:
    www.hillscty419piercepv.com/
    www.hillsctytaxcolpvsolar.com/
    www.hillsctyallpeoplespv.com/

    ReplyDelete
  12. "HillsboroughFL said...
    To make it easier for us to reply to specific posts, why not use some sort of name instead of the generic "Anonymous.""

    Are you saying that you won't address these issues because the people who posted them chose to be anonymous? Why is it more difficult to reply to anonymous postings? Just reference their comment or question in your response. I see you addressed a later posting that was anonymous.

    I'm curious about the previous anonymous postings too. Is this true and if so, what is going to be done about it?

    Thank you,
    Concerned Citizen of Hillsborough County

    ReplyDelete
  13. How about all the Chemtrails that have been spewing through the skies ALL DAY TODAY - ALL DAY, no less than 50 aircraft with chemicals spewing! Did no one notice? WOW, if not that's even scarier. We won't have to worry about too much else if we're all poisoned now will we?

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Hillsborough County Civil Service Board, in my experience, is a mixture of ineptitude and corruption. It has created a system in which having a college degree makes you essentially unemployable by the County. It appears to be wholly unanswerable to any kind of local supervision, and even flouts the Public Records Act whenever it has something to hide, which is most of the time. I know that civil service needs to have some insulation from the political process, but this Board, which apparently is not locally appointed, is an absolute obstruction to the improvement of the quality of County government personnel. It should be abolished, its top administrative staff retired, and its functions should be rolled into the responsibility of a regular county department.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Economic development is absolutely essential for a rapidly urbanizing community. The government should adopt an intense focus on bringing new businesses, particularly hi-tech businesses with jobs for more highly educated and skilled people, to the County.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Concerned Citizen - Thank you for including a name in your post. We will address all issues as appropriate.

    If we have a majority of Anonymous posts, answers back to Anonymous may get overlooked. Using some sort of name makes it easier for the one who posted, or those interested in the issue, to watch for responses.

    For instance, your last comment about a previous Anonymous post doesn't reference an issue and we are unsure to which you are referring.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I realize that we are in a budget(cutting) recline time, but I would like to see the community care for the elderly program given some level of priority...it is preferred by our seniors, cost effective, (beats institutional care to about $10 to $1) Think about It!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Please don't forget:

    The BOCC should be aware that they already have a Hispanic Liaison, Tony Morjon. Planning and Growth Management's Ombudsman function is to help people through the zoning process, not just help the the Hispanic community. How is the Ombudsman's salary justified when PGM has seventeen bilingual employees?

    ReplyDelete
  19. These are the postings that I'm referring too:

    Anonymous said...
    They should definitely focus on the number of managers to low level employees county wide. All of the excess management is costing the county a lot of money. There are departments that have managers with only 3 people under them. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.

    January 6, 2011 4:00 PM
    Anonymous said...
    I think the county should be looking into grants for extra funding. There are grants available that are not being applied for. This is a no brainer. It's free money!

    January 6, 2011 4:08 PM
    Anonymous said...
    I think if the county is going to freeze all employee's salaries regardless of their extra duties, then that should go for ALL Hillsborough County employees. Why are some employees getting promoted with raises (and some of those people receiving more than one promotion since this all started) and everyone else is supposed to do any extra work they are asked to do without compensation because these are difficult times for the county. What makes them so special?

    January 6, 2011 8:06 PM

    Thank you,
    Concerned Citizen of Hillsborough County

    ReplyDelete
  20. Are these questions going to be answered? What's the point of this forum if no one responds?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Anonymous - Hillsborough County received $95.2 million in grants this year. The three largest grants are: Head Start/Early Head Start, $28.1 million; Section 8 Housing, $15.0 million; and Ryan White Emergency Relief, $11.4 million, for a multi-county area that we administer.

    While it may seem that grants are free money, there are two points to consider - staff effort and grant requirements.

    The staff effort that can go into a specific grant, as far as tracking and documentation, can be extensive.

    The requirements for specific grants vary. Some grants require matching funds, while others are very specific on the time frame on when applications are taken, what the grant dollars can be spent on, when funds need to be spent, and how grant dollars can be spent.

    All of these issues are taken into account when applying for grants to meet County needs. And Hillsborough County will continue to seek grant opportunities that best fit our needs.

    Should you know of any specific grants you feel are appropriate to County services, please let us know.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dear Anonymous, the organizational structure of Hillsborough County government continues to evolve, and many of these span of control issues are being addressed.

    To follow up on the third issue about freezing salaries and yet promotions, it seems you have a specific case for your question. We are not able to discuss specific personnel actions on this forum.

    We do ask you to help us identify and solve the County services vs community needs issues we continue to face.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Dear Hillsborough FL, Thank you for the responses to the other people's posts that I asked about.

    I understand what you're saying about the grants and I'm glad to hear that so many of them are being used. With all of the cuts in staff, the County probably doesn't have enough people to be actively searching for grants to consider.

    Like I said before, I didn't write the original post so I don't know if it's referring to a specific case or not. Could I ask a related question though? Can you tell me if the hiring freeze means that promotions are not allowed either? I understand that many employees are being asked to do work outside of their job descriptions because of the budget cuts. What I want to know is how does that work with their pay being based on the specific job duties of their title.

    Also, I noticed in the minutes of the Civil Service Board meetings that they have Actions listed for establishing new positions and reclassifications of other positions to be voted on and approved or not. Do all job reclassifications and new positions being established in the County go through this process for approval?

    Thank you for your time in addressing these issues. I really wish that the community would be more active in these blogs. I thought that a lot more people would want to offer their ideas and opinions and brainstorm these issues to help the County out of this situation. It seems to me like they just don't know this is here.

    Signed,
    Concerned Citizen of Hillsborough County

    ReplyDelete
  24. When should we expect a response to this message from Concerned Citizen of Hillsborough County on
    January 25, 2011 6:02 PM? Is there anywhere else that people can ask questions about Hillsborough County issues?

    Also, when will the next question of the WEEK be posted?

    Thanks,
    Another Concerned Citizen of Hillsborough County

    ReplyDelete
  25. Dear Another - we should be posting another questions this week, and will go to Queston of the Month.

    There are many ways to contact Hillsborough County. This link offers many phone and email options - www.hillsboroughcounty.org/contact/

    ReplyDelete