COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Some in the press would have would have the public believe draconian budget cuts proposed for the coming fiscal year are made necessary by the “impending” sale of the electric system.  Not true.  For starters, the likelihood of the sale closing before the end of the next fiscal are slim to none.

Secondly, Councilwoman Pilar Turner, who is leading the charge for deep budget cuts, has made it clear she wants to see the city slash another $2 million from its general fund budget, regardless of when or if the electric system is ever sold, and in spite of the fact that the city has already cut 25 percent from its general fund budget since 2007.

Turner won’t rest until the leaders of local Tea Party and the Taxpayers Association and their friend County Commissioner Bob Solari are happy, and those folks won’t be content until the city is driven to disincorporation.

According to Finance Commission Chairman Peter Gorry, since 2009 the city’s total workforce has been reduced from 534 to 425.  Over that same time, the city has cut its general fund employee count from 254 to 198.

One news article published this week reported that the city has an employee-to-resident ratio of 1 to 35, but failed to mention that her calculation included employees working for the city’s enterprise funds, all of which are self-sustaining.  Further, with the exception of the municipal airport and the recreation department, the city’s enterprise funds not only cover their own expenses but also contribute to the cost of running the city.

Excluding the city’s enterprise fund workers, the employee-to-resident ratio in Vero Beach is 1 to 75.  The city could lower that number even further, to 1 employee for every 100 residents, by contracting with the County to provide police protection.  That move would not necessarily result in savings, though, and very few are arguing for turning over public safety to the Sheriff’s Office.

In one of the more utterly foolish public statements of our time, Turner insisted not long ago that any organization should be able to cut its spending by at least 15 percent.  Applying Turner’s math and her logic, by cutting spending 15 percent a year for 20 years, any organization should be able to slash its spending a total of 94 percent.  If you want to drive an organization out of existence, as Turner seems to want to do with the City of Vero Beach, cutting spending and investment 15 percent every year would one way to accomplish that end.

The island tabloid echoed Turner’s illogic on its editorial page this week when its editors wrote, “What everyone wants to see – was hoping to see – is how much money can be squeezed out of the current Vero (Beach) general fund budget without impacting a quality of life we all treasure.”

The answer which neither the editors of the island tabloid, nor Turner, nor the leaders of local Tea Party/Taxpayers Association are willing to accept, is that the city simply cannot continue to make deep cuts without impacting service.

How did we get to this point where so-called limited government advocates now have the city by the throat and are seeking to choke the life out it?  It is as if we are living in a vortex of insanity.

City Manager Jim O’Connor has made it perfectly clear that further cuts will impact services, as has Finance Commission Chairman Peter Gorry.  In fact, three members of the Finance Commission joined Gorry this week in raising concerns about the Council’s plans to make cuts that will lead to the loss of an additional 34 city employees and thus diminish services.

From the beginning of the push to sell Vero Electric, and certainly since the County’s drive to acquire the city’s water and sewer system, I have suspected many who are arguing that the city should provide only “essential” services believe the city itself is no longer “essential.”

The city’s detractors would be just fine to have the County take over governance of the mainland areas of what in now the City of Vero Beach.  Meanwhile, they will form their own island municipality, which they will proudly name the Town of Vero Beach.

Make no mistake about it, the budget workshops scheduled for next week will prove to be a pivotal struggle for the soul of the city.

Whether Commissioner Solari and his political ally Councilwoman Turner accept it or not, the City of Vero Beach always has been and always will be the heart of Indian River County.  Their shortsighted assault on the city is doomed to fail, for the public will not stand by and let a handful of selfish and misguided libertarians drive the city to ruin.

In fact, if Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll joins her fellow Council members Craig Fletcher and Pilar Turner in their effort to gut the city, no amount of FPL money funneled to her campaign through Glenn Heran’s political action committee will be enough to save her.  To further complicate the political calculus for Carroll, she and Fletcher are both now facing recall initiatives, after their egregious displays of religious intolerance and ignorance of or indifference to the First Amendment.

If you care about your city, make the time to attend any one of five budget workshops to be held next week, all beginning at 9 a.m. in the Council Chambers.  Let your voice be heard.