Dumbing Down Polk County

So we saved a few thousand dollars in the Polk County budget.  We cut their pay in half!   I guess we showed them!  Those commissioners better shape up and do good or we will cut their pay to nothin’!

 Folks, we are going the wrong way!  It is like we have decided to accept mediocrity and adjust the pay to their level of performance.  The “Cut their pay in half” initiative struck a cord with the voters.  They were fed up with the commissioners and this looked like a good way to express their frustration and express it it did.  It was interesting that the voters (state wide) voted to build a light rail system when they did not know where it would go, who it would serve, they did not know if it could survive, nor how much it will cost.  So much for smart voters! 

With this major change in the commissioner’s paycheck, what result we can expect?  Better decisions? More effort? More time on the job?  Nope, just the opposite.  We have sent a message for sure.  We did express our frustration, but we also told the commissioners much more.  We said that it is ok with us if just anybody runs for the office.  We don’t demand quality effort and decisions.  We don’t demand a full time effort. We have said that anybody can direct the county into the new millennium. 

With a budget that exceeds $400 million we have decided that the average Joe or Jane is capable of making decisions that will affect the country for generations.  We have said that the services such as police, firefighting, emergency medical, roads are something that can be left to just about anyone.  

We have told the outside world that we don’t value expertise, that we don’t expect excellence.  This is backed up by the fact that we elect a School Superintendent thus limiting the candidates to those living in the county and usually to those in the schools system.  So you can add schooling and the children as something and someone that is not important. 

Is this acceptable?  Apparently.  We see no effort by the community leaders to change.  Where are the newspapers with their editorials and in-depth reporting? Where are the Chambers of Commerce?  Where are the major employers who will have to hire the dumbed down workers?  Where are the heads of manufacturing that will have to transport their goods on ill advised, run down roads and other forms of transportation.  Where are the hiring executives that will have to look far and wide for top talent willing to come to Polk County? 

But if you look hard enough there is an upside to this short sightedness.  We will not grow like other counties. Growth companies will look askance at what is happening and the kids that get out of high school and college will look beyond Polk County for opportunity.  You might think that because the slowed growth we won’t have the water woes that are predicted.  But no, we will not have commissioners smart enough to protect us from the big boys on the coasts.  The employers will not have to pay high wages (but they will get what they pay for!).  The current industry will not have aggressive new competitors because the smart ones will go elsewhere.  We will not have to worry about the finer things in life, because we will not have the tax money to spend on parks, museums, and recreation facilities.

 We will see some growth.  More and more seniors looking for the cheapest place to live in Florida will be attracted.  Yes, we will get more and more of the non-taxpaying resident.  

All this portends a bleak future for Polk County unless someone beside a two bit columnists gets upset.