Our View July 23, 2008

Later this month, we will see what our county will propose in the way of budget cuts as our county commissioners hold fast on the millage rate for the third consecutive year.
Unfortunately, as the dollars flow through Milton, another problem seems to occur each year.
The biggest issue is the unfunded mandates passed down from those in Tallahassee who preside over us.
While the county commissioners are trying to live within a budget and reduce spending, the State of Florida is handing down things they have to pay for at a rate of over $1-million dollars a year.
How dare they?
Well they dare because we want them to take action, but don’t have the money to implement our wants or needs.
So why not make us pay for this at the local level.
It is almost like you coming home and finding out you are paying the cell phone bill for the entire family while only two of the seven or eight actually live in your house.
But does all of this come down to a bigger issue no one has realized?
We are trying to be our brother’s keeper and pay the tab at the same time.
As a group we should be reminded, if we buy a person a meal we feed them once, but if we teach them to fish we feed them for a lifetime.
Our society is so busy trying to buy meals and fund lives it has gotten to the point where it is almost expected of us and if we don’t, then we are a bad society.
Well, aren’t we a bad society if we make them dependent on us?
Helping someone out who is trying is one thing, but for us to be expected to offer our assistance time after time is just a little bit too far.
Recently the county commissioners had a discussion about the Farmer’s Market and Main Street Milton.
Their funding was eliminated during the past budget process. All the commissioners passed the budget and agreed with it.
After the budgeting process it was reinstated by vote.
Now it is understandable to support the Farmer’s Market, but to what extent are we supposed to do so?
A farmer was overheard questioning why the money spent on the sign welcoming everyone to Milton could not have been spent on a more permanent structure for the Farmer’s Market.
First off, the funding for the Farmer’s Market comes from the county and not the City of Milton.
Secondly, most farmers’ markets are not placed on a plot of land such as the one here in Santa Rosa County.
Very few are set up very elaborately, since most of the farmers are selling their crops from the back of a truck or a little stand they might set up to the side.
Every one of us has something near and dear to our hearts, but we are all going to have to either support it personally or learn to make do with what we have.
The magical dollar we expect to exist that somehow funds every one of our wishes and desires is about to go poof.
As we watch the magic show come to a close, it is time for us to prioritize what is the most important to us all.
Once we have the list, we are going to have to either learn to live with it or prepare to dig deep into our own pockets.
Why do we start to feel the tax savings we were counting on disappeared just like the county’s magical dollar just did?
Poof!