To the Editor:
I applaud your June 8 editorial, not only for exposing the county commissioners’ absurd and tone deaf shenanigans regarding medical and recreational marijuana, but also for calling them out for their abysmal fiscal management.
They continually brag about their “excellent stewardship” for not raising taxes during their terms in office. Yet in doing so they have used up the Economic Stabilization Reserves so prudently set aside by previous commissions, frustrated executive leadership to the point they moved on to leadership positions in municipalities where they’re given the resources to do their jobs, and now they’re selling “surplus property” to fund the annual budget instead of using such one-time resources to replenish reserves. They’ve already eaten the seed corn; now they’re burning the furniture.
In the upcoming elections they’ll brag that they’ve held the tax rate steady, without admitting that in doing so they have guided the county down a very risky road. I hope Sarasota County voters are alert enough to see the dangerous and shortsighted course this commission has plotted. They were handed a sound fiscal house on a silver platter. Their legacy is a house of cards that will become all too painful for Sarasota County taxpayers.
Harold Ashby
Siesta Key