Walton taxpayers group sets up hot line

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS - The Walton County Taxpayers Association has launched a hot line so residents can report suspected waste and fraud in local government.

"Every citizen, employee and taxpayer of Walton County can now be involved in making sure that our government is using our money wisely and that decisions are brought to the ‘light of day,' " according to a press release from the nearly 1,300-member group.

Association members will investigate the claims.

Robert Hudson, the group's treasurer, said members established the hot line after it was discovered that taxpayer funds are being used to pay family health coverage for county commissioners and three other high-ranking officials.

The hot line so far has received about 40 calls. About half were from residents "encouraging our organization to follow up on the issue of family paid benefits," Hudson said.

Meanwhile, officials have been working to trim the county's 2009-10 budget.

The last "scrub" session was Monday. A public workshop on the estimated $103 million budget is scheduled for 10 a.m. July 9 at the courthouse in DeFuniak Springs.

"I don't want to call it challenging them, but we certainly were looking for accountability," said Bill Imfeld, the county's finance director. "I can tell you that over the course of this year, between the scrubs and what they submitted for their requests, we've knocked out well over $1 million off of operations for next year."

It's now a matter of finding other areas that can be tweaked, Imfeld said.

Other cuts could from cutting donations to nonprofit organizations, reducing travel by 20 percent, reducing library funding and leaving about 30 full-time positions vacant.

"Many of these have already been incorporated into what we plan to recommend to the (County Commission) for the 2010 budget," Imfeld said in an e-mail. "(The list) is also not meant to be all inclusive in that we will also look for other avenues to achieve savings."

Imfeld also said there likely will be "some adjustments" to salaries.

"There were some reorganizations and I'm expecting that there's going to be some salary decreases," he said. "I'm not talking an across-the-board thing, but I think you'll probably find some that, as a result of the reorganizations, we'll have decreases."

He added that no pay raises are planned. Constitutional officers' salaries are set by the state, but "I can tell you on the board side, there's not any (pay increases) for this year and there are none planned for next year."

There are no plans to cut staff, Imfeld said.

Next year's proposed budget is about $8.2 million less than this year. Imfeld said most of that was because of projected drops in revenue from gasoline, sales and other taxes.

Hudson with the taxpayers association sat through Monday's meeting. He said county officials were "very thorough."

"They were consistently seeking cuts and questioning expenditures," he added. "The (Office of Management and Budget) department was well prepared. They did a good job."

WANT TO MAKE A CALL?

Residents can call the Walton County Taxpayers Association hotline at 888-794-9282 and leave an anonymous message 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information on the taxpayers association, call Treasurer Robert Hudson at 543-2378 or visit www.waltontaxpayers.org.