In reading Peggy Munroe's My View ("Voters Weren't Asking for a Tax Hike," July 16), I felt as though I were listening to a Paul Harvey radio segment, but it never got to "the rest of the story."

In her article, Ms. Munroe rightly reports that the County Commission, by a 6-1 vote, preliminarily established the general property tax rate for next fiscal year at 8.38 mills (1 mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 of taxable value). Including the 0.5 mills for the county's Emergency Medical Services, the total countywide property tax rate will be 8.88 mills next year. Unfortunately, the article led readers to believe that the EMS tax was a new tax and inflated the numbers inaccurately to reflect such.

Her claim that the total tax increase over last year would be $22 million is simply incorrect. In reality, the total increase is only about $13.4 million. Ms. Munroe also forgot to mention that next year's tax bills will include a $50,000 homestead exemption — double what it was this year. Without including those two huge facts, comparing this year's and next year's budgets is worse than comparing apples to oranges. It's more like comparing a dishwasher to an oven.

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story ...

Leon County operates an extremely lean, frugal organization, and has done so for many, many years. In comparison to all 66 other counties in the state of Florida, Leon has the seventh-lowest number of employees per capita. This year, the total budget for Leon County will be reduced by $11 million for FY2009, and the operating portion of the budget will be increased by less than 1 percent.

To accomplish this, the county will eliminate 28 positions, maintain the already reduced branch library hours, reorganize county departments and functions, and restructure its risk management insurance program. We also are requiring county workers to shoulder a greater share of their employee health care — to me, a truly bitter pill to swallow.

At the same time, the county is committed to maintaining the highest level of service that our limited resources allow. We have continued funding for mosquito control, cooperative extension, economic development, the trauma center, the community health services partnership, the main library operating hours, primary health-care funding for those most in need and support for the cultural community. The county provides these services because, quite simply, our citizens have demanded them. The County Commission also maintains its strong and long-standing commitment to public safety. As such, there are no sworn law enforcement officer positions being eliminated.

With these cuts and belt-tightening strategies in place, the small revenue increase cited above will be invested right back into our community to promote economic development and maintain our quality of life. New branch libraries will be constructed at Lake Jackson, at Mahan Drive/Pedrick Road and in Woodville. Expansions to our existing Northeast and B.L. Perry branches are also planned, and funding for additional parks is included. Significant resources are also committed to transportation, including transit, sidewalks and roads.

Individual property owners will be impacted differently to fund these essential services of county government and the capital investment in our community. The property tax rate was structured to not increase the property tax bill for a median-valued homesteaded property. This typical home in Leon County is worth $177,000. Taking into consideration the Save Our Homes cap and the new additional homestead exemption, these properties will have saved over $350 cumulatively over three years (from 2007 through next year).

The property tax structure in Florida clearly favors homesteaded property owners. Amendment 1 made matters worse by creating greater inequality between homestead and nonhomestead property. The County Commission recognized this and, in December 2006, endorsed the Florida Association of Counties proposal to create a $25,000 exemption for tangible personal property (equipment and furnishings), to help out businesses and commercial property owners. In addition, the board supported creating an assessment cap of 10 percent on nonhomesteaded properties. Both proposals were supported by the Legislature and were included in Amendment.

Balancing the needs of the community and the revenues required to support them is a difficult and important challenge. I'm sure the Board of County Commissioners will continue to listen to citizens and will always do its best to fund the services they demand.

And that ... is the rest of the story.