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Sarasota News Leader May 17, 2013 OPINION ing up some of that decline by an upward adjustment of the millage rate, so less strain is placed on the county budget and less reliance is put on the reserve fund. Page 63 To simply dismiss out of hand the idea of offsetting a 40 percent decline in assessed property values by increasing the tax rate is a failure to properly serve the citizens of the county. Their party ideological dogma aside, commissioners are not elected just to preside over the shrinking of county government. They are put into office to preside over the efficient but effective functioning of that government. They lost a large chunk of annual operating revenue because of the collapse of the real estate market. But their inaction in responding to that loss has been, to put it delicately, inadequate. The time to put an end to that head-in-thesand mentality is now. The real estate market is recovering, and with it, the local and state economies. Reduced property values will not recover as quickly because, in the case of permanent residents, increases are limited by the Save Our Homes exemption. The county is confronting a shortfall in revenue of more than $82 million compared to what it had in the 2007 fiscal year. Even a small adjustment in the millage rate would ameliorate some of the pressure to triage the funding of programs and infrastructure. A reasonable adjustment would give the county much needed income while still leaving county taxpayers with a significant reduction in their property taxes compared to what they paid six years ago. A rational and mature conversation by the county commissioners on offsetting some or all of the property value decline by increasing taxes could have led to a realistic assessment of the impact of the decline on county residents. Perhaps the vast majority of residents have needed that decline to weather the economic storms. Or perhaps a 20 percent reduction in taxes would have sufficed. No one knows, because no one in a position of authority had the courage to even explore the situation. Barbetta is wrong: The matter of increasing property tax rates is not "off the table." If the county commissioners are to do the job they were elected to do, tax rates should be carefully reviewed and adjusted accordingly. After all, the five commissioners were elected to make the hard decisions. It is about time they did exactly that and ensured that county government, with the essential programs and services citizens depend upon, is properly funded. % The Sarasota News Leader No-Nonsense Reporting