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Pasco charter panel seeks cost-savings advice

 
Published June 23, 2015

DADE CITY — Pasco's charter government advisory committee wanted guidance Monday afternoon from longtime Property Appraiser Mike Wells Sr. on how the panel could benefit the county. Wells wouldn't bite.

"Listen, that's your job,'' said Wells, whose son is a county commissioner. "I don't mind commenting on my office. The rest of it is on your plate.''

Tax Collector Mike Fasano wasn't as shy in offering insight. Among other things, Fasano told the committee it should consider nonpartisan elections for constitutional offices because, as service providers, the property appraiser, tax collector, sheriff, circuit court clerk and elections supervisor don't delve into local political-policy decisions.

The advisory committee, appointed by county commissioners and state legislators, is meeting with Pasco's constitutional officers over the next several weeks as a precursor to deciding whether the county should pursue a charter form of government. Wells and Fasano were the first to appear, and Fasano repeated his criticism of the charter government push.

"Is the process broken? Is this system broken?" he asked. "It's only going to create more government and more layers of government.''

The county formed the advisory committee after state Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, publicly advocated for a change to charter government to include an elected county mayor, term limits, single-member districts for commissioners and a recall provision. The advisory committee's recommendations still must pass muster with county commissioners, who have the final authority to schedule a voter referendum.

Two weeks ago, a citizens group said it wanted to partner with Corcoran on assembling a binding charter commission to include campaign-finance reform and stronger ethics rules. The future House speaker said Monday morning he'll pass on the partnership.

The current advisory committee "is a great compromise,'' Corcoran said, because of commissioners' past public statements to honor the 15-member group's recommendations if they come forward with at least 10 votes.

Monday afternoon, the advisory committee focused attention on shared services like information technology, human resources and fleet management as a potential way to cut government costs.

"You don't need a charter to do that,'' Calvin Branche of Hudson said during public comment. "That's common sense.''