Publication Date: 08/29/07
Editor: With the budget in its final stages, the county's financial management team and this Board of County Commissioners deserve whatever recognition they are getting and frankly, the applause should be deafening. In large part, a new culture is taking hold.
This County Commission, by its early moves such as the hiring freeze and zero-based cost analysis, created conditions where the county is absorbing the $23 million hit from the first round of the state's property tax reform and with a $13 million increase in general fund reserves, is prepared for the second hit should the jumbo exemption option be approved by the voters in January.
The good news is that the County Commission acted well before Tallahassee's plans were known, not in reaction to the capital.
In addition to the commission, the stars of the show were the financial team that is the spine of the county government. From Clerk of the Court Cheryl Strickland and Allen MacDonald on the constitutional side, to Assistant County Administrator Joe Vonasek and Doug Timms, director, Office of Management and Budget, their performance has been exemplary.
Timms Office of Management and Budget staff: Dawn Cardenas, Jesse Dunn, Wayne Schroeder and Joy Andrews, are as energized as they are good. This financial group is surely the envy of any. We are lucky to have them.
We should also tip our hat to the just retired interim County Administrator Wally Kropacek, for his many contributions in this process. His tenure represents another accomplishment of this commission.
Walter Rohrer
Ponte Vedra
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