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Blog: Pensacola’s Population Down; Government Spending Up $20 Million, Pensions Up $10 Million
October 14, 2009
The City of Pensacola will vote in November on establishing a new city charter that supporters believe will give residents more control over city government.
“Under the present charter, Pensacola voters have very little power. A voter can not impact the direction, programs or initiatives of Pensacola government, without the consent of the city manager and his staff,” Pensacola Independent News Publisher Rick Outzen explained on his “Rick’s Blog”. “The power is with an unelected staff.”
Under Pensacola’s proposed charter, government would be a mayor-council form of government, removing the city manager and his staff from power.
On his Rick’s Blog, Outzen has compiled some interesting statistics about Pensacola under a city manager form of government.
- Personnel costs are up $17.3 million — 37 percent — despite a reduction in staff
- Pensions costs have jumped in just seven years from $3 million to $13 million
- Population is down; Pensacola is smaller now that it was in 1960. Escambia County’s population increased 35 percent in the same time period.
Oh, and by the way, Pensacola is about to issue $45.6 million in bonds for a maritime park. If you want in on the action, you can purchase municipal bonds in $5,000 increments. Your money is guaranteed and will earn a few percentage points in interest — if the city has money to make payments in the future.Why are we reporting this on NorthEscambia.com? If the currently seated Escambia County Consolidation Study Commission drafts a plan to consolidate Pensacola, Century and Escambia County into one government, it will be presented to voters next year. If it should be approved, everyone in Escambia County, including all of us in North Escambia and Century, would suddenly live in Pensacola.
Over the coming weeks, we will work to bring you stories and insight into Pensacola government since North Escambia could soon be in Pensacola. It could be your future city of residence, so we thought you would like to know.
Your comments are welcome below.
Read more Pensacola charter coverage on Rick’s Blog.
Comments
17 Responses to “Blog: Pensacola’s Population Down; Government Spending Up $20 Million, Pensions Up $10 Million”
Population has decreased while the cost to govern less people has increased.
City jobs are the best jobs in town and the council dances for city staffers . They have to so that staff will take care of their requests.
How many mistakes has finance staffer Barker had besides the pension recommendations Cox Cable taxes ? Now he’s quoted on the big one – the big park and big debt.
Consolidation will not lead to less taxes, it will lead to more. Cit property owners pay full county taxes and an additional chunk about 5 mills to the city.
How will the new city provide the same services without charging the county more?
They won’t
The county commission has already zoned and coded us to death in the north end, forcing regulations on us that we don’t want. More government is just going to make it worse. I live on a dirt road, which I like, by the way. All I ask is for them to make it passable, which rarely happens. I live on property that has been in our family over 100 yrs. As time passes, the conditions I live under get worse every day. My family gets screwed by our “justice” system every way we turn. We have three dwellings on our property that all need repairs. We are all retired and don’t have the money for these expenses. So, what’s next? Someone noted that there are more votes in the south end than in the north and that it might get voted in against our wishes. So, I guess that is a possibility. I would like to see no one in the city of Pensacola be allowed to force some more on us that we don’t want. I have said before that the commissioners have too much power. These people have control of all our lives. They decide who gets how much, as well as how all of us have to live. We might as well live under a dictatorship. They are supposed to be making decisions that are in our best interest, but that rarely happens when it comes to the north end. We practically have taxation without representation.
My mother is 91 and we would not talk her into selling and moving. She has lived all of her life on this property, but as for me, I’m ready to sell and get out of here!
Janice
Every day , Pensacola just gives us more and more reasons not to consolidate, The city is broke and they need our cash flow, and that is all they want us for. VOTE NO ON CONSOLIDATION
As someone who grew up in the Bratt/Atmore area and moved to Pensacola for job opportunities, I beg of you, PLEASE SUPPORT consolidated government!
The city is robbing us blind, and it’s true that there is no real citizen support for the status quo.
If they knew what they were doing down at City Hall, there wouldn’t be people leaving in droves, and there would be more decent jobs here. There is a clique of well-off people trying to control every single thing that happens here, and to hell with us working people.
Not everyone can afford fifty or sixty bucks a week to commute to work from up there in God’s Country.
REGARDING:
“guess where the vast majority of voters are going to live? Yeah, that’s right: In Pensacola. ”
Actually, only about 20 percent of the county population lives within Pensacola city limits. The rest chose not to.
I think the one thing everyone at the north end of the county is forgetting is that if consolidation comes down to a vote, guess where the vast majority of voters are going to live? Yeah, that’s right: In Pensacola. People in the north end are pretty much powerless when it comes to the democratic process. You’ve got one commissioner, they’ve got four. Even if everyone from Molino to Century votes No, if won’t matter. If the people of Pensacola want consolidation so your money can be spent on their city, leaving you little to nothing in return, then that’s how it’s gonna be. But look on the bright side, at least you’ll be paying hundreds of dollars for a brand new trash can
If I wanted to live in Pensacola God Forbid Ihope never comes true, I can’t under stand why they want to waste 46 million dollars on the maritime park that will be wiped out the first hurricane comes thru I will never go to it. and the beaches are a waste of money. I wish we could get a Commissioner that would help use fight this Consolidation Vote No on Consolidation.
We need to vote all the commissioners out and start over
VOTE FOR PAM WOODS COUNTY COMMISION DISTRIC 5
Century is a horrible place to live, they will be lucky if pensacola takes them over.
I don’t need a College Education Anon to know that whether offices are State run or County run, the outcome is still the same. Services have been removed from the northend of the county to save Pensacola and the State of Florida money at our expense.
I am referring to the removal of the Century County Health and Dental Dept., Children and Family services, Century-Carver Elem. & Middle School and Janet Holly Offices. And lets not forget that the County Commissioners have been after the Century Court House closure too! We have a Sherriff’s office sitting in Walnut Hill that doesn’t look like it’s ever used to me. Why did they spend tax payers money to build it, for it to just sit there and look pretty?
The Escambia County Commissioner’s require budget cuts on top of budget cuts and still they need more money to come into their system. WHY? Poor financial management and greed? Less money recieved from the State of Florida…so it’s a trickle down effect? Either way, I wonder if they will ever get a handle on the situation?
For those who don’t use computers, don’t know how or don’t own one, they’re the ones that have to make a drive to Pensacola to take care of business. What if they don’t own transportation or cannot afford to pay someone to take them.
Tuff luck, deal with it..not our problem?
I’m all for education Anon….but common sense and compassion for the needs of others is a must when making descisions that effect everyone’s lively hood and well being. I hope you get my uneducated point!
First of all We need a County Commissioner to pull for the whole District 5 and what is needed. For to long the elected officals of County has apperenlly thinks the district line 5 stops at cantonment. And I agree with Pam Woods comment about taking from us but never gave back. I say no to Consoildate. Better than that I wish we could push for District 5 to become it own County. And leave P-cola and everything South of Cantonment to the waste-side. So our own generated taxes could be used here instead of there.
Pam Wood, I love your comment, how true.
To S.L.B. You definitely need more education. Pensacola has nothing to do with government offices in the north end of the county. That is controlled by the County Board of Commissioners and the elected Constitutional officers of the County. Please don’t vote for anything until after you’ve done some research and have educated yourself on the issues.
Having grown up in Century and lived in the area my whole life I have personally watched from the inside, how stupidly the City of PNS has been managed. Now, it is smaller than 1960. There are your results. Period ! These ‘elitists’ have been brought here to give us their culture because ours was bad and this is the result. They gave themselves raises for years because people in So. Fl. made more money than them (which is the weakest argument possible). The PNJ supported them with moving articles on how City Hall needed to be where it is so that the employees could enjoy the view of the Bay. They have spent the last 40 years telling us what we want and we moved out of their City because we did NOT want it. They take our CRA monies and spend it on their projects. They take our sales tax and build more tennis courts in PNS. The best thing that could happen is for the City of PNS to totally disintegrate, the sooner the better. Leave them to their own and they will. Sorry for the rant, but this is a topic I have had great involvement in over my entire career.
The reason for higher personnel cost is the county and our local school board keep eliminating blue collar jobs and replacing them with white collar. We all know that a college grad earns more money but us blue collar workers we just don’t know why. It seems that in the local government jobs that the white collars just keep pushing paper from one desk to another and dragging things out and not getting anything done to help the county. The blue collar worker does all the work. It reminds me about the guy that was on TV the other night complaining that he was trying to go through the legal process to open a golf driving range of Pine Forest and the county was very slow to give him the licence to open his new business and he said he understood why Escambia county was not getting the new jobs that our surrounding counties were. We are paying to much for the little bit of work we get out of the white collar workers in this county.
Run the college boys out of office and put common sense people back in government
They messed it up long enough its time to try a new approach. Lets go back to what we know works: Honesty and Integrity not the crookedness that we presently have
I moved away from Pensacola to the northend of the county in 1995 to get away from it’s negative spiral downfall and crime. I have been happy to keep and spend my tax dollars in Century,Fl in order to support it’s economy and it’s hard working citizens.
If the Pensacola government gets its way, they want not only my tax dollars back now, but all others who live in the northend also. I sure hope we have a say so when the time comes to VOTE NO TO CONSOLIDATION.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, even if they were to consolidate Century into Pensacola at our expense, they still wouldn’t manage the money right and get ahead, their are too many greedy-money hungry people running the P’Cola government that do not know how to manage the money and stop spending it on non-sense projects. Looking at the statistics above, they speak volumes!
The P’Cola government has closed down numerous state run agencies in the northend over the past few years in the name of budget cuts and saving money and that still didn’t get them ahead and now they want more.
Florida local and state government just keeps wanting more and more from those of us who have less and less. Enough already!
Pensacola is screwed. Vote no on consolidation.