St. Lucie County may declare state of emergency over economy
January 30th, 2009 by TCPalm.comThe economy is so bad, St. Lucie County officials are thinking about declaring a state of emergency.
St. Lucie County commissioners explored creative methods to lower unemployment and stave the foreclosure mess, including the possibility of declaring a state of emergency to help local companies and laborers find work.
“What I’m trying to do is kick start the local economy through job creation,” County Commissioner Doug Coward said.
With more than 10,000 homes in foreclosure and unemployment reaching double-digits, county officials on Thursday discussed a two-tiered approach to accelerate projects that are ready to go now, and also get more projects ready for completion earlier than anticipated.
By calling for a state of emergency, the county could ensure those projects go to local bidders and have public hearings to determine who gets what, County Attorney Dan McIntyre said. Bids for federal and state funded projects would not change.
McIntyre said he did not know of a state of emergency being used in such fashion, but believed it would give the county a legal way to give locals jobs for a to-be-determined time period. State of emergencies typically help governments get work done without red tape during times of crisis. McIntyre said the county is looking to modify the bid structure if the decision is made to declare it.
To pay for the projects, the county could pull money from different revenue streams and reallocate dollars to projects that are closer to being ready. But Coward said he wants to make sure the projects are going to local bidders with local workers.
Tax increases are not being considered to pay bills. Redirected money also could help bring in grants, he said.
Though the possibility of using some of the $17.6 million in emergency money the county has in reserve was brought up, Commission Chairwoman Paula Lewis and Commissioner Chris Craft said they were uncomfortable doing that. The money is there to cover storm damage costs, which could be more costly in coming years, they said.
The county is asking for $123 million in federal stimulus money, though it’s uncertain what, if any, portion will come to the area.
Work on Walton Road, the Fort Pierce Judicial Complex, the Treasure Coast Education, Research and Development Park and sanitary work on the Airport West Commerce Park are projects that could be rushed through, county officials said.
THE LAW
• Chapter 252 of Florida State Statutes gives local governments the authority to declare a local state of emergency.
• It give the public safety director the ability to seize control of necessary resources
• It allows local government to bypass state purchasing and bidding requirements to repair or recover from the emergency.
By Eric Pfahler, TCPalm.com
Tags: author, chairwoman, chris craft, commissioner chris, county attorney, county commissioner, county commissioners, county officials, creative methods, development, double digits, doug coward, emergency, emergency money, federal, foreclosure, foreclosures, government, job creation, local companies, money, paula lewis, repair, revenue streams, roads, safety, state of emergency, storm damage, tax increases, tiered approach, unemployment
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January 30th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
finaly some local officials with good sense!!!!too bad some rub off on others,especially palm beach county!!!!
January 30th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
In Palm Beach county our commissioners are approving new home constructtion. For whom I don’t know since there are an
unbelievable amounts of foreclosures and vacant houses. Yeah
I say give jobs to the locals thats a start nayway. A moratorium on new schools and homes should be a must
January 30th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Palm Beach Commissioners have their heads in the sand. Approving more “affordable housing” that actually costs more than the foreclosures that are on the market is insane. PB Commissionsers think they are they to do only 1 thing. SPEND money… We have 100’s of over priced acreage at Mecca Farms and paid Sailfish Marina millions not to build condos (well spent…dummys) Keep up the good work what’s left of the currupt commissioners. The rest are sure to fall. It’s just a matter of time.
January 30th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Through this type of intervention the State is tampering with free market economy in ways that very few dare to predict where will it end. This is changing the rules of capitalism and replacing them with quasi totalitarian measures. The real problem is that the US treasury is out of the money, they are funding the “economic rescue plans” with very expensive loans from China, Japan and other countries. WRONG WAY TO FIX THE PROBLEM!!!!!!