Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley said Wednesday that county commissioners should consider increasing taxes to fund the rising cost of public safety.
Ashley expressed frustration at commissioners’ April 9 pledge to keep the property tax rate steady at 3.28 mills when his agency alone faces at least $4 million in increased expenses in fiscal 2014. He said he particularly favors levying a local option sales tax that would generate a specific revenue stream.
“The citizens are going to be angry if you raise taxes, but citizens are going to be more angry if you cut services,” he said.
Ashley said the suggestion might be unpopular, but he sees it as necessary.
“I don’t mind taking it on the chin … because right is right,” he said.
Ashley said the cost of running the Sheriff’s Office and keeping patrol cars on the road is rising as the county’s general fund revenues are decreasing.
“So the only way to submit a balanced budget is to reduce services,” he said. “And I don’t know that we can do that again this year. All the magic tricks are gone.”
The Sheriff’s Office has cut almost 20 percent of its workforce in the past five years, and that future cuts would have to come from vital units, Ashley said.
“Do you pull them out of the dispatch center and say we won’t answer calls between this hour and this hour? Do we take them out of civil processing and we don’t serve subpoenas and warrants?” he added.
An increase in the property tax or sales tax could help give the Sheriff’s Office the $1.7 million needed to fill vacancies created when Ashley put deputies in every public school in the county. It also would provide another $1.3 million to replace 40 patrol cars, one bus and other equipment, and $600,000 for increased contributions to the Florida Retirement System.
“We’ve got to start replacing cars and copiers and … mobile computers,” Ashley said. “That’s our business, is fleet. We’ve got to be mobile.”
Read the Sheriff's 2012 annual report. >>
But commissioners have said they are opposed to placing more tax burden on property owners in 2014.
“I don’t want to raise property taxes,” Commissioner Dave Parisot said. “There are other ways to raise revenue and we’re looking at them.”
At their most recent meeting, commissioners discussed the possibility of levying the remaining 7 centsof local tax on gas sold in Okaloosa County as well as charging utilities franchise fees for using public rights of way.
He said Ashley can do more to cut his costs.
“Perhaps the sheriff should take a look at his spending priorities,” Parisot said. “Maybe not every deputy needs a take-home vehicle.”
For years officials have touted Okaloosa County’s property tax rate — one of the lowest in Florida — as a selling point to families and businesses.
But the low levy is finally taking a toll on general fund revenues, which are used to pay for basic government services, Ashley said.
“It’s great to have the lowest millage rate, but we don’t have the revenue these other counties do,” he said.
Okaloosa County doesn’t charge the full local 12-cent gasoline tax, doesn’t charge franchise or impact fees, and doesn’t have a 1-cent local option sales tax, Ashley said.
“It’s almost like (the commissioners) intentionally starve this county of any revenue to keep up services. And it’s irresponsible,” he said.
Ashley likened the predicament to building a house but not locating it near roads or hooking it up to water, sewer or electricity.
“You’ve got to maintain what the taxpayers of this county have built,” he said.
Ashley said he has talked with commissioners and prepared them for his proposed budget, which will be submitted in June.
“They all know we’re coming in with a pretty significant increase,” he said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.