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Editorial: Editorial: Cedar Key News Annual Meeting March 29
March 8th, 2008

Editorial: Let School Board Know What Should Be Taught
February 15th, 2008

Editorial: What Is a Fair Tax?
February 4th, 2008

Editorial: Inconsistent Appraisals Harm Taxpayers
December 17th, 2007

Editorial: Energy Crisis?
November 30th, 2007

Editorial: Florida Water War Heat Up
October 16th, 2007

Editorial: Nobel Prizes in Medicine
October 5th, 2007

Editorial: Editorial: Same Rules for Everyone
September 22nd, 2007

Editorial: Demand Action on Bridge Repair
August 8th, 2007

Editorial: Local Response Needed to Stem Clam Poaching
July 24th, 2007

Editorial: Money, Money, Money...Votes
July 9th, 2007

Editorial: We Celebrate Independence and Clams
June 26th, 2007

Editorial: Are You Ready for Hurricane Season?
June 12th, 2007

Editorial: The Sources of Progress in Medicine
May 30th, 2007

Editorial: A New Era of Politics and Religion
May 17th, 2007

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Fiscal Incompetence?

Fiscal Incompetence?

Editorial

Let's review some recent history of the Levy County Commission at work. At great expense the Levy County Jail was expanded to house 173 more prisoners. The logic was to house out-of-county prisoners and make money on the extra prisoners. The budget passed September 25 by the Commissioners prevents the Sheriff from hiring enough officers to allow providing board and room to 100 prisoners that Sumter County would send us for safe keeping. That results in an annual net loss of revenue of $1,541,449 to Levy County according to the Sheriff Department.

The failure in financial logic represented by the jail situation is mirrored by Commissioner Danny Stevens when he told tax payers at the September 25 Budget Hearing that the public believes there has been a tax increase, when the Commission has actually lowered taxes. Look at your tax bill and try to find a lower figure than last year!

A tax payer attending the Budget Hearing could not have looked at the budget that the Commission adopted September 25 because neither the public nor the press was given a copy of the budget. After the Commission acted we now find that certain departments have extraordinary increases. Examples of the most extreme budget increases are as follows:

Legal Department ......... 95% increase from two years ago to $430,994
Building & Zoning Dept... 96% increase from two years ago to $430,994
County Administration ...110% increase from two years ago to $365,000

Has the work of these departments doubled in just two years?

Meanwhile, income from use of the enlarged jail to the tune of $1,541,449 will be lost because the Sheriff Department was not given enough money to hire four officers to supervise the extra income producing out-of-county prisoners.
Please read the letters to the editor in this edition. It is obvious Cedar Key News is not the only entity concerned about the state of property taxes in Levy County.

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