A vote against public safety

[NORTH PINELLAS Edition]
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.

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We have seen how low four Hillsborough County Commission Republicans will go to appease the conservative base. Voting on the $3.8-billion budget last week, the four-member majority robbed a domestic violence program to boost the property tax cut by just a bit.

The $500,000 cut in the sheriff's budget, which went to a tax cut instead of the domestic violence program, would pay for a pound of bananas for each of the county's 1-million residents. Not only is the amount insignificant in the scheme of things, but it's fair to say the average person would consider fighting domestic violence a public priority. The four not only jeopardized a program that gives victims and their families "one-stop" shopping for social services. They also pulled a fast one on Sheriff David Gee. Commissioners had asked him to help find money for the domestic violence program, which addresses a problem Gee and his deputies face first-hand. While public and private money helps other domestic violence efforts in the community, this agency, by coordinating social and legal services, has the potential to make them all more effective.

Gee, to his credit, shaved enough from his office's workers' compensation insurance to provide the $500,000 for the domestic violence effort. Then Commissioners Brian Blair, Ken Hagan, Jim Norman and Ronda Storms voted to divert the money for tax cuts instead. Commissioners talk endlessly throughout the budget cycle about public safety and first responders, and the first chance they get they weaken both.