MARK SCHUMANN

Five days of City Council budget workshops kicked off this morning with a spirited debate about the difference between smaller government and more efficient government.

Councilwoman Pilar Turner pressed for budget cuts targeted at 10.9 percent, which she said should be made regardless of whether the electric system will be sold in the coming fiscal year.

Councilman Richard Winger disagreed. “I will vote for anything that improves the efficiency of the government, regardless of the sale of the electric.  But if the cuts are predicated on the assumption that we are going to sell the electric, that we are going to make draconian cuts that could cost lives, like cutting 911 or the lifeguards, I’m going to vote against it because there is not a need at this point in time to do that,” Winger said.

Turner countered that the fundamental question is not about when the electric system will be sold, but what the city’s government will look like going forward. “We are not here to approve every page.  We are here to get a philosophy.  The voters have said they want us to proceed with the sale. We have to address our budget as if the sale is going to happen,” Turner said.

Councilwoman Tracy Carroll seemed to side with Winger, at least to the point of opposing staff reductions that would lead to sharp cuts in services.  Carroll reiterated her commitment to businesses and families and said she would not support cuts that reduce services to those two groups.

Councilman Jay Kramer drew a distinction between offering fewer services, as compared to delivering the same level of services with fewer employees.  Simply cutting services, Kramer said, hardly amounts to being more efficient.  To underscore his point, Kramer said that by giving residents and businesses fewer services without also cutting their taxes the city would actually become less efficient.

Turner has long contended that by approving sale of the electric system voters also gave the green light for cuts in city services.  Cutting services, Turner insisted, is the way for the city to become more efficient.

Winger disagreed.  “We are figuratively and literally at opposite ends of the table, and I am certainly for any improvement in efficiency.  I only say to you that when we come to something like Main Street and 911 and it is a major issue, I think we have to stand on our record and I think we have to vote,” he said.

Mayor Craig Fletcher, who had earlier said he would like to see budget cuts of five percent a year for the next three year, was all but singing the “Keep Vero Vero” theme, when it came to retaining the city’s ability to maintain parks and roadways.  He said he did not want Vero Beach to look like many of the other cities against which Vero Beach’s staffing levels were recently benchmarked.

Winger, along with Carroll, proposed consolidating the offices of the City Manager and the City Clerk so the two Charter officers can share support staff.

Among the proposed cuts restored to the budget for next year was $20,000 for holiday decorations and $25,000 for Main Street Vero Beach, an organization of downtown businesses, which sponsors the Hibiscus Festival, Downtown Friday, and works to promote investment and redevelopment in the downtown area.