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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: February 28, 2009

No, the headline above isn't asking you what you're doing. Instead, it is a question county officials are asking Pinellas residents as they decide how to deal with a projected revenue shortfall for the 2010 fiscal year. No one is predicting the economic rebound that would be needed to boost the flow of money into Pinellas government coffers will happen during the 2009 calendar year. So county commissioners know they are going to have to toss programs and services overboard as they try to balance revenue and spending for the next budget year, which starts Oct. 1.

Before administering the old heave-ho, however, commissioners want to know which of its functions residents can live without or see reduced in scope or turned over to some other public or private entity. So the commission is holding a series of town hall meetings around the county. The North Pinellas session has been slated for 5:30 - 8 p.m. this Tuesday, March 3, at Palm Harbor University High School, 1900 Omaha St.

Nearly every line of spending in a government budget has a constituency that will scream bloody murder if that expenditure faces reduction or elimination. That's why, for example, President Barack Obama has so far spared us the details on the $2 trillion in spending cuts he says he will seek to reduce the federal deficit.

So people with thoughts on how Pinellas County spending could be reduced should not hesitate to turn out Tuesday night and pass them on to county officials.

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