Better local government makes better headlines
It's no secret that Monroe County is in the midst of a fiscal crisis. Headlines on our pages have detailed one county crisis after another, many of them documenting the path to the current budget crisis.
But just as headlines about soaring windstorm insurance rates don't really hit home until the bills reach homeowners' mailboxes, stories about inept leadership and poor decision-making in county government are just beginning to click for some now that layoffs, reduced services and higher taxes are becoming reality.
With the election season approaching, we believe it is particularly important to remember how we got here. Here are a few headlines from the past year to jog memories:
Tourism board weighs wreck funding (May 2007)
County may close Marathon courthouse (June 2007)
Willi reveals $20 million shortfall (June 2007)
Hickory House costs mounting (June 2007)
Breaking lease cost county $130,000 (June 2007)
Project taxes county budget (June 2007)
Six figure public salaries on the rise (June 2007)
Chambers: No more funding for wreck (July 2007)
Grand jury probes airport expansion project (July 2007)
Longtime head of Marine Resources gets 30 days' notice (July 2007)
Seniors beg to keep bus service (July 2007)
Fire hydrants axed in budget cuts (July 2007)
Shipwreck funding contract binds county (July 2007)
New county job added in lean times (August 2007)
Grand jury: Airport oversight 'negligent' (August 2007)
County to pay $3 million in [airport contractor] debt (September 2007)
County taps reserves to delay budget pain (September 2007)
Fees for county services increase (October 2007)
Budget targets libraries, buses (November 2007)
More issues pressing, board tells Tom Willi (November 2007)
Willi won't go — County chief survives the ax (November 2007)
WILLI FIRED: Walks with $282,354 (December 2007)
County has no money to hire leader (December 2007)
Hickory House negotiations stall again (December 2007)
County poised to make more layoffs (January 2008)
County starts cutting jobs, services Friday (January 2008)
County digs deeper to balance budget (January 2008)
County job cuts finalized (February 2008)
6-cent gas tax back on county agenda (February 2008)
Sales-tax hikes tempting in tight times (February 2008)
Social services latest victims of budget cuts (February 2008)
So here we are, with a new government complex on the drawing board in the Upper Keys, a $31 million-plus airport terminal (named after a sitting county commissioner) near completion in Key West, more than $3 million (taken from wastewater funds) committed to sinking an artificial reef and another $3 million-plus (also taken from wastewater funds) tied up in a waterfront restaurant. Meanwhile, county workers are looking for new jobs. Critical county facilities like the Marathon courthouse (slated for renovation years ago) and the Marathon library are crumbling. Charities that fill critical social needs in our county — MARC House, Wesley House, AIDS Help and others — are seeing 20-percent cuts in county support (often translating into equal or greater losses in state or federal matching funds).
We can only hope Monroe County voters will help us improve our headlines this fall.
The Key West Citizen 2/22/08
