“The practice of discretionary funding, it needs to stop,” Gimenez said. “You can fund services through a normal budget process.”
Two years ago, a Palm Beach County grand jury — charged with addressing a “crisis of trust in public governance” after a string of public corruption convictions — called for a slate of reforms. Topping the list: ending county commissioners’ discretionary funds.
The report said most of the money went to laudable efforts, including worthwhile community groups and nonprofits, but the process of commissioners individually handing out the funds smacked of unseemly political patronage that “at a minimum, politicized the manner of funding” and created a negative effect “in both fact and perception.”
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Mayor Gimenez wants to end County Commissioners' excess funds. By Geniusofdespair
Mayor Gimenez wants to stop County Commissioners from carrying over the excess funds in their office budgets. They have a few million in their slush pot now. It was worse a few years ago. They each had an additional $300,000 plus besides their "office budget" of over three quarters of a million each. The office monies comes out to about $10 million dollars of our hard-earned tax dollars. Commissioner Heyman has about $800,000 she is carrying over. In other words, she didn't NEED that much to run her office but she has it saved up anyway. Gimenez is not a miracle worker so I don't expect any changes to this policy but we can hope. Joe Martinez, the Commission Chair, might make believe he supports it because he wants to be mayor. The Miami Herald says:
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This was originally an attempt at county commissioners handing out needed funds for good causes and non-profits through out a large county by the individual commissioners within their districts as best they individually knew how.
It's turned out to be one significant way that some of these commissioners remain in office indefinitely by creating a vicious cycle within the electorate.
Our county government has gotten much too big and disturbingly detached from reality and those that they are supposed to serve being public servants.
Those that work in county government with all their perks and obscene benefits have come to live in one risk free fantasy public sector world paid by the truly hard working taxpayers in the results oriented private sector that live in the real world struggling to provide for themselves and their own while also paying for all these perks and millionaire like lifetime public sector retirement benefits that they will never in their lifetimes see.
Public sector pay and benefits have gotten out of control.
Hopefully, Carlos Gimenez will eliminate all the slush funds used to help elected officials win re-election.
In addition, Gimenez should roll the disgraced Southeast Overtown and Park West CRA and the disgraced OMNI CRA into the County. That would save the taxpayers $5 mil to $7 mil per year. Pay and benefits to friends, family, idiots, and handouts to campaign contributors could be eliminated.
No more slush funds.
The County Commission should as a demonstration of their efforts to control spending take a 50% cut in their districts discretionary spending account,and all funds must be used by the end of each year. However, the best plan would be to take all the districts slush funds and but it back into the general account. Remember the sad old story about how people will die from lack of food, no social programs and lets get rid of all the old people, well that what your going to hear from all our commissioners fighting for every last penny of our tax monies to get them re-elected on our dime.
Everyone who reads this story should call or email all county commissioners and deluge them with requests to end the slush fund. Only when they hear from the electorate do they react. They would love to keep this discretionary account a secret but now that everyone knows about it everyone should call for it to end. Don't believe for a second that we can "just vote them out" when they use our money to pay special interests for votes.
They have an upper hand at election time with their county paid for SUV with their f....g names on them - how much advertising to they need and why on our dime?
Call and email them people. Make their staff work for a change.
During these hard times, in good faith the County Commissioners should volunteer to turn their unused office funds back to the general fund. Who thought when Commissioners decreased their staff salaries, those funds would then be used make up for the discretionary dollars taken away. Should Commission Office Budgets be so grossly over funded that 100s of thousands of dollars are left to give away? Mayor, it sounds like 20% is too small a hit this time around.
The public trust has been broken by the Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners.
The new Mayor is doing something on his part; now we citizens voters must simply do ours.
what they should do is use EVERY PENNY of the slush fund from all 13 Commissioners and use it to help balance the budget , to alleviate the blow to the residents and services
and another thing WE NEED TO START TO VOTE FOR NEW PEOPLE ON THE COUNTY COMMISSION AND IF ANYONE ON HERE IS FROM DISTRICT 8 REMOVE LYNDA BELL FROM OFFICE BEFORE SHE TEARS THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT OF DADE COUNTY
And Bruno Barrerio. When he made a Motion to approve the $4 BILLION taxpayer contribution he was such an ass when he refused to allow any "friendly" amendments that would have made the deal better for taxpayers.
Bruno would look at David Samson sitting in the front row and say, "Mr. Samson, will you accept the Amendment?"
"No", OK, "The maker will not accept the amendment.
Recall Barrerio now.
Mr. Gimenez remove the commissioners budget and place this in the county operating budget to reduce the 400 million dollar defecit. In September you will hear how the elderly need food, daycares need money, food banks need money and the list will ask for more. Well lets create jobs by having the county handle the money that you will be giving social agencies run by these private agencies asking for money. These executive directors of these social agencies drive high profile cars ranging in price of 100,000 dollars paid by their agency which funds they get from Miami Dade County and Federal Grants. We cannot afford this anymore.
Mr. Gimenez you are on the right track by starting with the comissioners slush fund. The best they should get is a secretary or an assistant which can help in the office. You have a lot of support on this one. Do It!
The Mayor should bring back a formal process for analyzing community needs, prioritizing, funding and evaluating non profit effectiveness at delivering social services. The commissioners killed the Alliance for Human Services so they could dole out to their favorites and maintain patronage, regardless of effectiveness or prioritizing need.
1) Mayor Gimenez was a HUGE advocate for slush funds, especially in the heart of the recession while out county budget was getting out of control. Now that he's Mayor, it's no coincidence that he wants to severely cut this discretionary spending practice. Although this makes me want to throw my computer across the room, I guess it's better that he is finally seeing the light, or is now forced to.
2) Commissioner Suarez has since three months ago pledged to use only %50 of these funds, all of which he has used on salaries to his staff. We need more Commissioners like Xavier on the dais week in and week out!
Xavier has a lot of potential.
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